Investigation of human right ventricular cast specimens.

Fifty human right ventricular cast specimens were subjected to X-ray cineangiography in biplane right anterior oblique and left anterior oblique (RAO/LAO) projection. From the silhouettes seen in the two projection planes we estimated areas and lengths using a light-pen minicomputer system and calculated the volumes using various methods. The calculated volume values were compared with the true values determined by water displacement. The methods were then arranged is order of decreasing accuracy. Criteria for judging model quality were the mean squared deviations, correlation coefficient, and residual variance. The most accurate calculation of the right ventricular volume was obtained with Ferlinz' method and our own empirical approach.