A Comparative Study of Various Single-Plane Cineangiocardiographic Methods to Measure Left-Ventricular Volume

Monoplane angiocardiographic methods are widely used to measure left-ventricular volumes (LVV´s). Generally, the ellipsoid and Simpson´s rule models are used to calculate LVV. Due to the assumed circular cross-sectional area of the left ventricle, both models have a fundamental error which theoretically prohibits the exact calculation of LVV. In this paper, a method to reduce this fundamental error is suggested whereby the LVV is calculated by Simpson´s rule, but with each truncated cone or frustum multiplied by a correction factor to relate the assumed circular cross-sectional area to the true cross-sectional area of the frustum. The developed correction-factor technique is compared to the currently used ellipsoid and the Simpson´s rule models for 18 canine left-ventricular casts, and the results show that the correction-factor technique has a greater accuracy than any of the conventional methods.