Laurence Gavit-Houdant

Reliability of myocardial perfusion quantification in angiography using a digital flat panel cardiac system

Discordance between lesion severity from angiocardiography and physiological effects has been reported elsewhere. Quantification of myocardial perfusion during the angiography procedure may supply additional information about short- and long-term outcomes and may be helpful for clinical decision making. In previous works, myocardial perfusion has been assessed using time density curves (TDC), which represent the contrast medium dilution over time in the myocardium. The mean transit time (MTT), derived from the TDC, has been reported as a good indicator of the regional myocardial perfusion. Our objective is to estimate the accuracy and reproducibility of MTT estimation on digital flat panel (DFP) images. We have simulated typical myocardium TDC obtained with a DFP cardiac system (Innova 2000, GE), taking into account scatter and noise. Logarithmic or linear subtractions have been applied to derive a contrast medium concentration proportional quantity from image intensity. A non-linear minimisation realises the model curve fitting. MTT estimates are more stable with linear subtraction in presence of scatter. However logarithmic subtraction presents smaller bias when scatter level is small. Both approaches are equally sensible to image noise. Linear subtraction should be preferred. Image noise has a high influence on MTT accuracy and we may reduce.