Functional images of the left ventricle using digital venous angiography

: Imaging and functional evaluation of the left ventricle are of great interest in cardiological diagnosis. So far, the left ventricle has been imaged by laevocardiography or by a nuclear medicine method (gated blood pool, first pass). The limited spatial and temporal resolution of nuclear methods and the invasiveness of selective laevocardiography are well known disadvantages of these techniques. With special software and hardware, it is possible to obtain functional images of the left ventricle by means of intravenous contrast injection; these provide definitive information concerning local myocardial contraction patterns.