Slow late myocardial clearance of thallium: a characteristic phenomenon in coronary artery disease

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1982 · Circulation; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1161/01.CIR.65.7.1504· OSTI ID:7054408

Sklar, J; Kirch, D; Johnson, T; Hasegawa, B; Peck, S; Steele, P

Researchers extended the quantitative seven-pinhole method to follow the dynamics of thallium redistribution after exercise. Researchers observed a pattern of slow late thallium clearance that appears to be characteristic of myocardium supplied by obstructed coronary arteries. In 28 subjects, quantitative thallium scintigrams and blood samples for thallium concentration were taken immediately, 2 hours and 4 hours after maximal treadmill exercise. Twenty subjects had coronary artery disease (CAD) and eight were normal. The rate of thallium clearance from the blood (TCB) was compared with the rate of thallium clearance from each segmental region of myocardium between the 2- and 4-hour images. In seven of the eight normal subjects, TCM exceeded TCB in all regions of all images. Seventeen of the 20 CAD patients had at least one region where TCM was less than TCB. Of the 13 patients with multivessel CAD 11 had multiple regions with TCM less than TCB. Using this criterion, we detected 31 of 39 obstructed coronary arteries. Of the 37 regions that were abnormal by this analysis, 30 corresponded to obstructed coronary arteries. In contrast, while conventional circumferential count profile analysis also was abnormal in 17 of the 20 CAD patients, it diagnosed multivessel CAD in only five of the 13 patients that had it. These results show that slow late thallium clearance from myocardium is characteristic of regions of myocardium supplied by diseased coronary arteries and that observation of this phenomenon may improve diagnostic sensitivity for the presence of multivessel CAD.

• Research Organization: Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Denver, Colorado
• OSTI ID: 7054408
• Journal Information: Circulation; (United States), Vol. 65:7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
MYOCARDIUM
SCINTISCANNING
THALLIUM ISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
BIOLOGICAL LOCALIZATION
BLOOD CIRCULATION
BLOOD-PLASMA CLEARANCE
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIAGNOSIS
DIAGNOSTIC USES
MEASURING METHODS
PATIENTS
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
TIME DEPENDENCE
BODY
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CLEARANCE
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
HEART
ISOTOPES
MUSCLES
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
USES
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