Good correlation between gated single photon emission computed myocardial tomography and contrast ventriculography in the assessment of global and regional left ventricular function

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the measured left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and wall motion analysis by the recently introduced quantitative electrocardiographically (ECG)-gated myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed myocardial tomography technique (gated SPECT) (QGS). Materials and methods: We compared technetium-99 m tetrofosmin gated SPECT imaging and contrast ventriculography in the assessment of global and regional left ventricular function in 74 patients with undiagnosed chest pain of whom 27 sustained a previous myocardial infarction. Results: Linear regression analysis demonstrated that gated SPECT determined LVEF correlated well with LVEF determined from contrast ventriculography (y = 0.95x + 1.9, r(2) = 0.84, p < 0.0001). Bland-Altman plot analysis showed no systematic difference between the two sets of values derived from the two imaging approaches over a wide range of LVEF values. Exact agreement of segmental wall motion scores was 460 of 518 (89%) segments with a kappa value of 0.76 (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: We conclude that gated SPECT imaging is an accurate and reliable clinical tool to accurately measure global and regional left ventricular function.