DYNAMIC RADIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF MYOCARDIAL FUNCTION

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During the past three and one-half years, a new non-invasive technique for measuring ventricular dysfunction due to myocardial infarction and ischemia, dynamic radiography (DRG) has been developed at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. This technique, based upon the analysis of secondary radiation fields, can be used to precisely measure the shape of the cardiac surface and to continuously monitor the change in this shape throughout the cardiac cycle. Current efforts, directed toward using this new technology in the precise characterization of time dependent epicardial motion patterns and comparison of these normal motion patterns with those obtained from close-chest models of myocardial infarction, have demonstrated that the basic dynamic radiographic technique has the potential to be developed into multifaceted diagnostic modality. The further development of the dynamic radiographic technology as proposed here, if successful, will result in an imaging system capable of a) measuring and displaying precise three dimensional motion patterns, b) monitoring myocardial perfusion patterns using a non-radioactive tracer, c) monitoring on-line real-time dynamic wall thickness, and d) measuring cardiac output and ejection fractions. These capabilities would be possible with a procedure that is non-invasive (very low radiation dose), inexpensive, and available on an out-patient basis. The most important of the specific goals of the research proposed here is the continued development of the dynamic radiographic 3-D real-time display capabilities, the development of an energy dispersal endocardial motion and dynamic wall thickness measurement capability, and the development of a capability for the measurement of myocardial perfusion patterns using a non-radioactive tracer.