Role of nuclear cardiology in evaluating the total ischemic burden in coronary artery disease

Journal Article · Mon Mar 09 00:00:00 EST 1987 · Am. J. Cardiol.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9149(87)90193-7· OSTI ID:6593268

Beller, G A

Goals of exercise radionuclide imaging are to: enhance sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of coronary artery disease (CAD) detection; noninvasively assess extent and severity of functionally significant CAD; determine prognosis so that specific therapeutic strategies can be more rationally implemented; detect silent ischemia in asymptomatic subjects or in patients with known CAD with a higher degree of specificity than can be accomplished by electrocardiogram stress testing alone; evaluate the response to therapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing coronary blood flow. Two major radionuclide techniques are currently used in evaluating the total ischemic burden in patients with CAD. These are myocardial perfusion imaging with either thallium-201 or rubidium-82, and radionuclide angiography performed after administration of technetium-99m. Areas of diminished thallium-201 activity on early postexercise images are abnormal and represent either areas of stress-induced ischemia or myocardial scar. To differentiate between the two, delayed images are obtained to determine if the initial postexercise defect either persists or demonstrates redistribution. Defects demonstrating redistribution represent transient ischemia, whereas areas of previous infarction or scar usually appear as persistent defects. Patients with left main or 3-vessel CAD usually show multiple thallium-201 redistribution defects in more than 1 vascular supply region, a phenomenon often associated with abnormal lung thallium-201 uptake.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville
• OSTI ID: 6593268
• Journal Information: Am. J. Cardiol.; (United States), Vol. 7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
HEART
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
ISCHEMIA
DIAGNOSIS
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
EXERCISE
ISOMERIC NUCLEI
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
PERFUSED ORGANS
RUBIDIUM 82
TECHNETIUM 99
THALLIUM 201
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISEASES
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MEDICINE
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPES
RUBIDIUM ISOTOPES
SECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
TECHNETIUM ISOTOPES
THALLIUM ISOTOPES
VASCULAR DISEASES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
550601* - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics