Study of post-myocardial infarction ventricular aneurysms with equilibrium radionuclide angiography. Significance of Fourier analysis

The concept of left ventricular aneurysm has been a subject of controversy and it's not yet completely settled. This has some implications on the patients selection for surgery and explains the various non-invasive methods so far developed for the clinical assessment of patients with ventricular aneurysms. Seventy-one patients with ischemic heart disease, 65 with recent myocardial infarction, were studied by equilibrium radionuclide angiography (ERNA) in order to define left ventricular wall motion abnormalities. One hundred ERNA were undertaken, through the usual erytrocites in vivo labelling technic, employing a GE 400 T Gama-Camera GP. Image acquisition was through 400 cardiac cycles, on LAO (30 and 60 degrees) and left lateral. PAGE protocol was employed. Fourier transform was used in the present work to obtain phase and amplitude images, which actually became the main criteria to define aneurysmatic areas. Global ejection fraction, regional wall motion and regional ejection fraction were other parameters investigated. Wall motion abnormalities have been identified in all the 65 patients having suffered a myocardial infarction. Extensive areas of akinesia or localized dyskinesia were present in 40 patients (16.5%), while remainder 25 had just localized hypoakinesia. Phase image enabled the selection of LV areas of contraction delay in 19 of the 40 patients with extensive wall motion abnormalities (Group I). In such Group I we could identify an LV area with contrasting colour, defining the aneurysmatic LV portion. In the order 21 patients with extensive akinesia, no significant changes of colour were present on ventricular phase image (Group II) meaning absence of aneurysm. No phase disturbances were seen in the remainder 25 patients with MI (Group III) and the 6 patients with CAD without MI had normal phase images (Group IV). The percentage of akinetic segments was 39.1 and 35.4 in Group I and II, respectively (p = .53) while it was significantly lower in Group III 17.9%; p < .0001). LV ejection fraction was statistically different in the four groups considered (I = 30.0% +/- 3.7; II = 39.9% +/- 2.9; III = 49.0% +/- 2.5; IV = 62.0% +/- 3.2). The degree of phase delay in aneurysmatic zones was quantified by the phase histogram. Average value of phase for the left ventricle was 129.7 +/- 8.4 degrees, and for the aneurysm it was 238.0 +/- 5.0 with an average phase delay of 104.8 +/- 4.1 degrees. The association of phase and amplitude images and the measur