Cine display of wall motion of the heart, using techimetium-99m labeled red cells, scintillation camera, ECG gate, computer, and video recorder

Wall motion studies of the left ventricle are made with commercially supplied hardware and software. The patient is imaged with the scintillation camera 10 minutes after the injection of 20 mCi labeled red cells. The camera images are digitized and stored in computer memory. The computer divides the cardiac cycle into 28 segments and stores a separate image sequentially for each segment. In order to provide images of adequate statistical quality several hundred cycles are acquired and summed by the computer, each sequence of 28 images being triggered by a signal from the R wave. Three or more projections of the heart are acquired in order to demonstrate various portions of the wall tangentially. A number of case studies are displayed in real time cine on a monitor from a video recorder to demonstrate normal wall motion and various degrees of motion impairment.