Quantitative analysis of left ventricular volume from contrast ventriculograms has been the gold standard against which measurement by other imaging modalities was compared. The most commonly used is the area-length method in which the ventricular contour is compared to an ellipsoid of revolution.
Volume is calculated using the mean of areas thus computed in each of two orthogonal views.
1 for a graphic demonstration of the area-length method, below. In this example, only one plane is used. A more accurate volume results from use of both RAO and LAO views, and the resultant ellipsoid of minor diameters Drao and Dlao. The measured volume is corrected for the space occupied by trabeculae and papillary muscles, whose volumes are not measured independently, using a regression equation. The area-length method has been extensively validated in in vitro hearts as well as in vivo .