Pediatric Radiocardioangiography

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Abstract
On the basis of a comparison of the shunt diagnoses in 73 radiocardioangiographic examinations with those from cardiac catheterization supplemented by operation and/or autopsy findings, it is shown that an intravenous injection of 99m technetium pertechnetate with subsequent evaluation using a scintillation camera and computerized regional time-activity curves is very accurate for the qualitative diagnosis of both left-to-right and right-to-left shunts down to the order of 1.2:1. The advantages of the method are: (1) it is quick (5-10 min for the patient, 20-30 min for the further processing and evaluation); (2) it is safe (extremely low radiation exposure enabling repeated examinations); (3) it is effortless for the patient (thus well suited for use in critically ill patients); and (4) it is applicable with the same accuracy in all age groups (including very young infants and neonates). Thus, the RCG is a promising method for ambulatory diagnosis of questionable heart disease, for the precatheterization workup, and for repeated follow-up studies, i.e. postoperative patients.