Quantitative evaluation of blood row distribution to exercising and resting skeletal muscles in patients with cardiac dysfunction using whole‐body thallium‐201 scintigraphy

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Abstract
Background and hypothesis: Decreased blood flow to working muscles makes an important contribution to exercise intolerance in patients with chronic heart failure. This study was undertaken to examine whether maldistribution of skeletal muscle blood flow is closely related to exercise intolerance in patients with cardiac dysfunction. Methods: Whole‐body thallium scintigraphy was performed during one‐leg exercise in 11 patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (LV ejection fraction Results: At anaerobic threshold, the thallium activity of exercising muscle increased from 4.2 ± 0.7 to 14.0 ± 2.5% (p< 0.05) in the thigh and from 1.7 ± 0.3 to 4.1 ± 0.9% (pConclusion: Whole‐body thallium scintigraphy demonstrated a maldistribution of leg blood flow in patients with reduced aerobic exercise capacity, suggesting that this abnormality could play an important role in exercising intolerance in these patients.