TL-201 MYOCARDIAL IMAGING - COMPARISON OF THE REDISTRIBUTION AND REST IMAGES

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 20  (6) , 477-483
Abstract
Patients (41) with chest pain and suspected coronary artery disease underwent 201Tl myocardial imaging immediately after maximal treadmill exercise, at redistribution 4-5 h after exercise and at rest 1 wk later. All had coronary angiography. All images in 7 patients without coronary artery disease were normal. Of the 34 patients with coronary artery disease 27 (79%) had new, exercise-induced image defects. The redistribution and rest images were identical in 15/27 (56%) patients (complete redistribution). In 10/27 (37%) patients with exercise-induced defects some redistribution occurred but defect size on the redistribution image was larger than that on the rest images (incomplete redistribution). In 2/27 (7%) of patients with exercise-induced defects redistribution was absent. The presence of prior myocardial infarction, regional abnormalities of left-ventricular contraction or the severity of coronary stenosis did not correlate with the presence or absence of redistribution. Overall image quality between the 2 studies was similar; image collection times for the redistribution study were prolonged. Apparently some redistribution (complete or incomplete) occurs in most patients with exercise-induced image defects. When both fixed and reversible perfusion defects are present defect size is often larger in the redistribution image and may overestimate the extent of prior myocardial infarction.

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