Quantitative Diagnostic Software Group (QUAD)

The software and algorithms developed by QUAD are widely considered to represent the gold standard in nuclear cardiology. They can perform a totally automated, push-button sequence of actions relating to imaging processing and analysis.

Through QUAD, algorithms have been developed to:

• Take raw digital data output by the gamma camera, identify where the heart is, reconstruct it into tomographic images and reorient those images to make them perpendicular to the heart's axis—all without operator interaction.
• Take tomographic images of the heart, evaluate the signals from several hundred portions of the myocardium, compare the strength of the signals with those expected in a normal heart and generate an exact quantitative measurement of the location, extent and severity of perfusion abnormalities of the heart. This gives the physician objective information to help select or rule out more invasive treatment.
• Analyze the dynamic functioning of the heart (i.e., the way it contracts and thickens during its cycle). A dynamic measurement of the heart cavity volume is performed from electrocardiographically gated three-dimensional nuclear cardiology images by automatically identifying the endocardial and epicardial surfaces and following their motion throughout the cardiac cycle.

The software and algorithms developed by QUAD are licensed and distributed by virtually every nuclear medicine camera manufacturer.