Design of heart defects for in vitro perfusion reduction testing

Solid heart defects were designed to simulate regions of various contrast agent concentration by simply being immersed in a container with a radiopharmaceutical solution. The design was tested and verified by Monte Carlo simulation. Preliminary experimental results were taken on a gamma camera. The lower radiopharmaceutical concentrations were obtained by removing a certain volume of material, isotropically, from a solid cube of perspex material. The resolution of the imaging modality does not resolve the structure of the cube and the carved cube appears as a region of lower radiopharmaceutical concentration. It is aso verified with Monte Carlo simulations, obtaining profiles across low radiopharmaceutical concentration areas that vary by less than 3%. The preliminary imaging results confirmed that the gamma camera could not resolve the internal structure of the carved cube and that partial volume effect resulted in image intensity reduction.