Analysis of the degree of pulmonary thallium washout after exercise in patients with coronary artery disease.

An abnormal increase in pulmonary thallium activity may be visualized on post-stress thallium images in patients with coronary artery disease. Because this increased pulmonary thallium activity usually disappears by the time of redistribution imaging, this study was designed to assess whether measurement of the degree of pulmonary thallium washout between stress and redistribution might improve the detection of increased pulmonary thallium activity in patients with coronary artery disease. Quantitative analysis revealed abnormal (that is, greater than 2 standard deviations of normal values) pulmonary thallium washouts in 59 (64%) of 92 patients with coronary artery disease, but in only 2 (25%) of 8 subjects with angiographically normal arteries (p less than 0.06). By comparison, the visual analysis of pulmonary thallium washout and use of initial pulmonary to myocardial thallium ratio were significantly (p less than 0.05) less sensitive in detecting abnormality in patients with coronary artery disease. Abnormal pulmonary thallium washout was related to both the anatomic extent and functional severity of disease: it occurred with greatest frequency in patients with multivessel disease and in those with exercise-induced left ventricular dysfunction (p less than 0.005). When added to the quantitative analysis of myocardial scintigraphy, the analysis of pulmonary thallium washout increased the detection of coronary artery disease from 84 to 93% (p less than 0.05), but the sample size was too small to assess specificity. Thus, the analysis of pulmonary thallium washout is a useful diagnostic variable because it: 1) provides an objective measurement of abnormal pulmonary thallium activity and is more sensitive than other methods; 2) correlates with both the extent of coronary artery disease and the degree of exercise-induced left ventricular dysfunction, and 3) improves the sensitivity of quantitative myocardial thallium scintigraphy to detect the presence of coronary artery disease.

Late reversibility of tomographic myocardial thallium-201 defects: an accurate marker of myocardial viability.

Twenty-one patients were studied who underwent thallium-201 stress-redistribution single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) both before and after coronary artery bypass grafting (n = 15) or transluminal coronary angioplasty (n = 6). All patients underwent thallium imaging 15 min, 4 h and late (18 to 72 h) after stress as part of the preintervention thallium-201 scintigram. In a total of 201 tomographic myocardial segments with definite post-stress thallium-201 perfusion defects in which the relevant coronary arteries were subsequently successfully reperfused, the 4 h redistribution images did not predict the postintervention scintigraphic improvement: 67 (85%) of the 79 4 h reversible as well as 88 (72%) of the 122 4 h nonreversible segments improved (p = NS). The 18 to 72 h late redistribution images effectively subcategorized the 4 h nonreversible segments with respect to postintervention scintigraphic improvement: 70 (95%) of the 74 late reversible segments improved after intervention, whereas only 18 (37%) of the 48 late nonreversible segments improved (p less than 0.0001). The frequency of late reversible defects and the frequency of postrevascularization improvement of late nonreversible defects are probably overestimated by this study because of referral biases. The cardiac counts and target to background ratios from late redistribution studies resulted in satisfactory cardiac images for visual interpretation. For optimal assessment of the extent of viable myocardium by thallium-201 scintigraphic studies, late redistribution imaging should be performed when nonreversible defects are observed on 4 h redistribution images.

Reversal of rest myocardial asynergy during exercise: a radionuclide scintigraphic study.

UNLABELLED: While exercise-induced segmental left ventricular wall motion abnormalities are well described, the phenomenon of improvement in certain asynergic segments during exercise in some patients remains a curiosity. To assess this unexpected finding, results were analyzed in 85 patients with wall motion abnormalities at rest who underwent two view (45 degrees left anterior oblique and anterior) exercise radionuclide ventriculography and exercise thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging. Wall motion was scored with a 5 point system (from 3 [normal] to - 1 [dyskinesia]); normalization or increase of 2 or more points with exercise signified improvement. Forty-eight patients (56%) had no change or further deterioration of wall motion at peak exercise, 15 (18%) showed both improvement of wall motion and deterioration and 22 (26%) showed only improvement of wall motion. Wall motion improvement during exercise was found in 57 (20%) of 279 segments with asynergy at rest. Of these 57 segments improving with exercise, 45 (79%) showed mild and 12 (21%) showed severe asynergy at rest. Only seven segments (12%) were associated with pathologic Q waves. Thallium-201 perfusion was normal in 44 segments (77%) while only 6 segments (11%) had reversible and only 7 (12%) had nonreversible thallium-201 defects. IN CONCLUSION: 1) wall motion that is abnormal at rest can sometimes improve with exercise; 2) this phenomenon generally occurs in zones without a Q wave or nonreversible thallium-201 defect. Hence, segments with abnormal wall motion at rest that show improvement with exercise appear to represent viable nonischemic segments.

Scintigraphically detected predominant right ventricular dysfunction in acute myocardial infarction: clinical and hemodynamic correlates and implications for therapy and prognosis.

To determine the clinical and hemodynamic correlates as well as therapeutic and prognostic implications of predominant right ventricular dysfunction complicating acute myocardial infarction, 43 consecutive patients with scintigraphic evidence of right ventricular dyssynergy and a depressed right ventricular ejection fraction (less than 0.39) in association with normal or near normal left ventricular ejection fraction (greater than or equal to 0.45) were prospectively evaluated. All 43 patients had acute inferior infarction, forming 40% of patients with acute inferior infarction, and only eight (24%) had elevated jugular venous pressure on admission. On hemodynamic monitoring, 74% of patients had a depressed cardiac index (less than or equal to 2.5 liters/min per m2), averaging 2.0 +/- 0.05 for the group. Of these, 30% did not demonstrate previously described hemodynamic criteria of predominant right ventricular infarction (right atrial pressure greater than or equal to 10 mm Hg or right atrial to pulmonary capillary wedge pressure ratio greater than or equal to 0.8, or both). The left ventricular end-diastolic volume was reduced to 49 +/- 11 ml/m2 (n = 22) and correlated significantly with the stroke volume index (r = 0.82; p less than 0.0001) and cardiac index (r = 0.57; p = 0.005). The follow-up right ventricular ejection fraction, determined in 33 patients, showed an increase of 10% or greater in 26 (79%), increasing from a mean value of 0.30 +/- 0.06 to 0.40 +/- 0.09 (p less than 0.0001) without a significant overall change in the mean left ventricular ejection fraction (0.56 +/- 0.10 to 0.56 +/- 0.11, p = NS).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Quantitative single photon emission computed thallium-201 tomography for detection and localization of coronary artery disease: optimization and prospective validation of a new technique.

One hundred eight-three men underwent stress-redistribution thallium-201 myocardial perfusion tomography. After evaluation of various preprocessing filters in a phantom study, the Butterworth filter with a frequency cutoff of 0.2 cycles/pixel, order 5 (which provided optimal filter power) was used in the back projection algorithm of the patient studies. All short-axis and apical portions of vertical long-axis images were quantified by dividing each myocardial slice into 60 equal sectors and displaying the maximal count per sector as a linear profile. In a pilot group consisting of 20 normal men (less than 5% likelihood of coronary artery disease) and 25 men with coronary artery disease (greater than or equal to 50% coronary stenosis by angiography), profiles representing the lowest observed value below the mean normal profiles provided the best threshold for defining normal limits. Abnormal portions of the patient profiles were plotted on a two-dimensional polar map. The polar map was divided into 102 sectors, and sectors with a probability of greater than or equal to 80% for disease of each one of the three major coronary arteries were clustered to represent specific coronary artery territories. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for defect size showed that the optimal threshold for defining a definite perfusion defect was 12% for the left anterior descending and left circumflex and 8% for the right coronary artery territories. These criteria were prospectively applied to an additional 92 patients with angiographic coronary artery disease, 18 patients with normal coronary arteriograms and 28 patients with less than 5% likelihood of coronary disease. Sensitivity, specificity (in patients with normal coronary arteriograms) and normalcy rate (in patients with less than 5% likelihood of coronary artery disease) for overall detection of coronary disease were 96%, 56% and 86%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for identification of individual diseased vessels were, respectively, 78% and 85% for the left anterior descending, 79% and 60% for the left circumflex and 81% and 71% for the right coronary artery. These results were not significantly different from those of the pilot group. An optimized quantitative method for interpretation of stress thallium-201 myocardial perfusion tomography has been developed. Prospective application of this method indicates that the technique is accurate for the overall detection of coronary artery disease and identification of disease in individual arteries.

Nonsurgical reperfusion in evolving myocardial infarction.

Nonsurgical recanalization of the occluded coronary artery has been performed in patients with evolving myocardial infarction since the late 1970s by intracoronary administration of thrombolytic agents at the ostium of the occluded artery or directly to the site of occlusion. The authors review the basic concepts underlying intracoronary thrombolysis, the method applied at their institution and the clinical results. Reperfusion of totally occluded arteries or termination of the ischemic state in subtotally occluded arteries was achieved in 71 (87.7%) of 81 patients. Reocclusion occurred in four patients, in three of these at a time when anticoagulation became temporarily ineffective, emphasizing the need for uninterrupted anticoagulation with a partial thromboplastin time longer than 80 seconds. Thallium scintigraphic studies before and after reperfusion showed a decrease in defect, indicating myocardial salvage, in the successful cases but not in failures or untreated control subjects. A decrease in thallium-201 defect was followed by improvement of regional wall motion and usually also left ventricular ejection fraction. Three of the patients with an unsuccessful result and one patient with a successful result died. Bypass surgery was performed electively in 18 patients because of multiple vessel involvement. Intracoronary thrombolysis appears to be a relatively safe and promising procedure. A large controlled study will be needed for definitive assessment of its role in the management of acute myocardial infarction.

Noninvasive identification of left main and triple vessel coronary artery disease: improved accuracy using quantitative analysis of regional myocardial stress distribution and washout of thallium-201.

The capabilities of visual and quantitative analysis of stress redistribution thallium-201 scintigrams, exercise electrocardiography and exercise blood pressure response were compared for correct identification of extensive coronary disease, defined as left main or triple vessel coronary artery disease, or both (50% or more luminal diameter coronary narrowing), in 105 consecutive patients with suspected coronary artery disease. Extensive disease was present in 56 patients and the remaining 49 had either less extensive coronary artery disease (n = 34) or normal coronary arteriograms (n = 15). Although exercise blood pressure response, exercise electrocardiography and visual thallium-201 analysis were highly specific (98, 88 and 96%, respectively), they were insensitive for identification of patients with extensive disease (14, 45 and 16%, respectively). Quantitative thallium-201 analysis significantly improved the sensitivity of visual thallium-201 analysis for identification of patients with extensive disease (from 16 to 63%, p less than 0.001) without a significant loss of specificity (96 versus 86%, p = NS). Eighteen (64%) of the 28 patients who were misclassified by visual analysis as having less extensive disease were correctly classified as having extensive disease by virtue of quantitative analysis of regional myocardial thallium-201 washout. When the results of quantitative thallium-201 analysis were combined with those of blood pressure and electrocardiographic response to exercise, the sensitivity and specificity for identification of patients with extensive disease was 86 and 76%, respectively, and the highest overall accuracy (0.82) was obtained.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A new approach to the assessment of tomographic thallium-201 scintigraphy in patients with left bundle branch block.

To determine whether a new approach to interpretation could improve the accuracy of thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for detection of left anterior descending coronary artery disease in patients with left bundle branch block, 69 patients were evaluated. Forty-four had angiographically proved coronary artery disease; the remaining 25 were considered to have a "low" (mean 13.5 +/- 6.4%, range 3.4% to 24.9%) likelihood of disease before thallium-201 scintigraphy. The conventional scintigraphic criterion for detection of left anterior descending artery disease (septal, anterior or apical defects) was compared with a new criterion that required the apex to be abnormal to indicate left anterior descending disease. The normalcy rates in the low likelihood patient group were significantly improved by using the new approach, from 16% to 80% (p less than 0.0001) by visual analysis and from 24% to 64% (p = 0.003) by quantitative SPECT polar map analysis. The sensitivity for left anterior descending disease was similar for the conventional and the new method by visual (100% vs. 94%) and quantitative (100% vs. 83%) analyses. In contrast, the specificity was significantly improved by using the new approach, from 14% to 79% (p = 0.0006) by visual analysis and 14% to 64% (p = 0.007) by quantitative analysis. In conclusion, septal and anterior thallium-201 SPECT defects are common in patients with left bundle branch block without coronary artery disease, resulting in low specificity for left anterior descending artery disease. The normalcy rates and accuracy for detection of left anterior descending coronary artery disease were significantly better when an apical defect was used as the criterion for disease.

Separate acquisition rest thallium-201/stress technetium-99m sestamibi dual-isotope myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography: a clinical validation study.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the validity of a novel approach to myocardial perfusion scintigraphy that provides the opportunity to avoid the drawbacks of standard same-day rest/stress technetium-99m sestamibi myocardial perfusion studies by using separate-acquisition dual-isotope rest thallium-201 and exercise technetium-99m sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). BACKGROUND: Standard same-day rest/stress technetium-99m sestamibi myocardial perfusion studies are cumbersome, associated with a potential decrease in perceived stress defect severity compared with thallium-201 due to the presence of rest technetium-99m sestamibi and may be unable to differentiate hibernating from infarcted myocardium. METHODS: The dual-isotope procedure was performed in 63 patients without previous myocardial infarction undergoing coronary angiography to evaluate sensitivity and specificity for coronary artery disease and in 107 patients with a low (< 5%) likelihood of coronary artery disease to evaluate normalcy rate. To validate defect reversibility, the dual-isotope SPECT study was compared with stress/rest technetium-99m sestamibi SPECT studies in a separate group of 31 patients with previous documented myocardial infarction who underwent a rest technetium-99m sestamibi study in addition to the dual-isotope SPECT study. RESULTS: In angiographic correlations, dual-isotope SPECT demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting patients with > or = 50% stenosis (91%, 55 patients) and > or = 70% stenosis (96%, 52 patients). In a small group of patients, high specificity was also observed (75% for < 50% stenosis [8 patients] and 82% for < 70% stenosis [11 patients]). A very high normalcy rate of 95% was also found. In the patient group assessed for defect reversibility, in zones with no previous myocardial infarction, segmental agreement for defect type between rest thallium-201 and rest technetium-99m sestamibi studies was 97% (kappa = 0.79, p < 0.001). In myocardial infarct zones, segmental agreement for defect type was 98% (kappa = 0.93, p < 0.001). Image quality was generally good to excellent. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that separate-acquisition dual-isotope myocardial perfusion SPECT is accurate for coronary artery disease detection, correlates well with rest-stress sestamibi studies for assessment of defect reversibility and results in good to excellent image quality. This approach provides an excellent method for the combined assessment of stress myocardial perfusion and myocardial viability.

Myocardial viability in asynergic regions subtended by occluded coronary arteries: relation to the status of collateral flow in patients with chronic coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine whether angiographically visualized collateral vessels in patients with chronic coronary artery disease imply the presence of viable myocardium in asynergic regions subtended by completely occluded coronary arteries. BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic coronary artery disease who are being considered for revascularization frequently exhibit angiographically visualized collateral vessels to completely occluded coronary arteries supplying severely asynergic myocardial regions. However, little is known about the relation between angiographic collateral flow and myocardial viability in these patients. METHODS: We studied 42 patients with 78 completely occluded coronary arteries supplying asynergic territories. Angiographic collateral vessels were interpreted as absent (grade 1) in 14 patients, minimal (grade 2) in 27 and well developed (grade 3) in 37. Myocardial viability was determined with positron emission tomography using nitrogen-13 (N-13) ammonia and fluorine-18 (F-18) deoxyglucose for assessment of regional perfusion and glucose uptake, respectively. Positron emission tomographic patterns were interpreted as mismatch (perfusion defect with enhanced F-18 deoxyglucose uptake); transmural match (severe concordant reduction or absence of both perfusion and F-18 deoxyglucose uptake) or nontransmural match (mild to moderate concordant reduction of both perfusion and F-18 deoxyglucose uptake). RESULTS: There was no significant correlation (p = 0.14) between the severity of perfusion deficit assessed by positron emission tomography and the collateral grade. The extent of mismatch was unrelated to either the presence or the magnitude of collateral vessels. Conversely, with increasing collateral vessels from grade 1 to 3, the total extent of positron emission tomographic match remained similar, whereas the ratio of transmural to nontransmural match decreased. Myocardial viability was usually present in severely hypokinetic regions (82%). It was lower in akinetic-dyskinetic regions (49%). Of the 64 regions with angiographic collateral vessels, 37 (58%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 46% to 70%) showed positron emission tomographic mismatch. In contrast, 7 (50%) of 14 (95% CI 24% to 76%) regions without collateral vessels on angiography exhibited positron emission tomographic mismatch. The presence of angiographically visualized collateral vessels was a sensitive (84%) but not specific (21%) marker of viability. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with chronic coronary artery disease, angiographically visualized collateral vessels to asynergic myocardial regions subtended by occluded coronary arteries do not always imply the presence of viable myocardium, suggesting that revascularization may not always provide a functional benefit.

Precordial ST segment depression during acute inferior myocardial infarction: early thallium-201 scintigraphic evidence of adjacent posterolateral or inferoseptal involvement.

To investigate the myocardial perfusion correlates of precordial ST segment depression during acute inferior myocardial infarction, a rest thallium-201 scintigram and a closely timed 12 lead electrocardiogram were obtained within 6 hours of the onset of infarction in 44 patients admitted with their first acute inferior myocardial infarction. Thirty-six patients demonstrated precordial ST segment depression (group 1) and eight did not (group 2). A perfusion defect involving the inferior wall was present in all 44 patients. Additional perfusion defects of the adjacent posterolateral wall (n = 20), the ventricular septum (n = 9) or both (n = 6) were present in 35 of 36 patients from group 1 compared with only 1 of 8 patients from group 2 (p less than 0.001). There was no significant difference in the frequency of multivessel coronary artery disease or disease of the left anterior descending artery between group 1 and group 2 or between patients with and those without a thallium-201 perfusion defect involving the ventricular septum. Thus, precordial ST segment depression during an acute inferior myocardial infarction is associated with thallium-201 scintigraphic evidence of more extensive involvement of the adjacent posterolateral or inferoseptal myocardial segments, which probably reflects the extent and pattern of distribution of the artery of infarction, rather than the presence of coexistent multivessel coronary artery disease or disease of the left anterior descending artery.

The frequency of late reversibility in SPECT thallium-201 stress-redistribution studies.

The frequency of thallium-201 late reversibility was prospectively assessed in 118 patients who had stress-redistribution thallium-201 studies by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). These patients demonstrated two or more segments with nonreversible defects at 4 h imaging and underwent late (18 to 72 h) redistribution imaging. When the criterion of late reversibility was defined as greater than or equal to 1 segment with 4 h nonreversible defects demonstrating late reversibility, it was present in 62 (53%) of the 118 patients and 164 (22%) of 762 segments. When the criterion of greater than or equal to 2 segments was used, late reversibility was found in 41 (35%) of 118 patients and 143 (19%) of 762 segments. The frequency of detected reversible defects increased from 27% at 4 h imaging to 43% at combined 4 h and late imaging (p less than 0.0001) and was significantly increased in all myocardial regions. In comparing the efficacy of initial and late imaging alone versus performing initial, 4 h and late imaging for the identification of reversible defects, 421 (94%) of 449 segments classified as reversible by the latter protocol were also correctly identified by the early and late imaging only approach, with the remaining 6% (28 segments) comprising those segments demonstrating the reversible pattern at 4 h and the nonreversible pattern at late imaging. No major differences were noted with respect to clinical, stress electrocardiographic and scintigraphic variables between the 118 patients undergoing late imaging and 98 additional randomly selected patients with two or more nonreversible defects at 4 h, who did not have late imaging.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Reverse redistribution of thallium-201: a sign of nontransmural myocardial infarction with patency of the infarct-related coronary artery.

The pattern of reverse redistribution on the day 10 poststreptokinase resting thallium-201 myocardial scintigrams is a common finding in patients who have undergone streptokinase therapy in evolving myocardial infarction. To investigate this phenomenon, 67 patients who underwent streptokinase therapy were studied pre- and 10 days poststreptokinase therapy resting thallium-201 studies, poststreptokinase therapy resting radionuclide ventriculography and coronary arteriography (60 of the 67 patients). Of the 67 patients, 50 (75%) showed the reverse redistribution pattern on the day 10 thallium-201 study (Group I), 9 (13%) had a nonreversible defect (Group II) and the remaining 8 (12%) had a normal study or showed a reversible defect (Group III). The reverse redistribution pattern was associated with patency of the infarct-related artery (100%), quantitative improvement in resting thallium-201 defect size from day 1 to day 10 study (94%) and normal or near normal wall motion on day 10 radionuclide ventriculography (80% of segments with marked and 54% of those with mild reverse redistribution). In contrast, nonreversible defects were associated with significantly less frequent patency of the infarct-related artery (67%, p = 0.01), improvement in defect size (11%, p less than 0.001) and normal or near normal wall motion (21%, p less than 0.05). Group III patients were similar to Group I with respect to these variables. The quantitated thallium-201 percent washout was higher in the regions with the reverse redistribution pattern (49 +/- 15%) compared with the contralateral normal zone (24 +/- 15%, p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Transient ischemic dilation of the left ventricle on stress thallium-201 scintigraphy: a marker of severe and extensive coronary artery disease.

On exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy, it has been noted that the size of the left ventricle is sometimes larger on the immediate poststress image than on the 4 hour redistribution image; this phenomenon has been termed transient ischemic dilation of the left ventricle. The angiographic correlates of this finding were assessed in 89 consecutive patients who underwent both stress-redistribution thallium-201 scintigraphy and coronary arteriography. A transient dilation ratio was determined by dividing the computer-derived left ventricular area of the immediate postexercise anterior image by the area of the 4 hour redistribution image. In patients with a normal coronary arteriogram or nonsignificant coronary stenoses (less than 50%), the transient dilation ratio was 1.02 +/- 0.05 and, therefore, an abnormal transient dilation ratio was defined as greater than 1.12 (mean + 2SD). The transient dilation ratio was insignificantly elevated in patients with noncritical coronary artery disease (50 to 89% stenosis) (1.05 +/- 0.05) and in patients with critical stenosis (greater than or equal to 90%) of only one coronary artery (1.05 +/- 0.05). In contrast, in patients with critical stenoses in two or three vessels, the transient dilation ratio was significantly elevated (1.12 +/- 0.08 and 1.17 +/- 0.09, respectively; p less than 0.05 compared with all other patient groups). An abnormal transient dilation ratio had a sensitivity of 60% and a specificity of 95% for identifying patients with multivessel critical stenosis and was more specific (p less than 0.05) than were other known markers of severe and extensive coronary artery disease, such as the presence of multiple perfusion defects or washout abnormalities, or both.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Incremental prognostic value of exercise thallium-201 myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography late after coronary artery bypass surgery.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the incremental prognostic value of exercise thallium-201 myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) performed > or = 5 years after coronary artery bypass surgery. BACKGROUND: Thallium-201 scintigraphy has shown significant prognostic value in a variety of populations with suspected and known coronary artery disease. However, its value in patients with previous bypass surgery remains unknown. METHODS: We studied 294 patients who were prospectively followed up. Cox proportional hazards models for prediction of "hard" events (cardiac death and nonfatal infarctions) were constructed, with variables considered for inclusion in hierarchic order: clinical and exercise data first, followed by scintigraphic information. RESULTS: Mean (+/- SD) follow-up duration after scintigraphy was 31 +/- 11 months. There were 20 cardiac deaths and 21 nonfatal acute myocardial infarctions. Twenty-nine patients had late (> 60 days after thallium-201 SPECT) revascularization procedures or underwent repeat bypass surgery or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. Shortness of breath and peak exercise heart rate were the most important clinical predictors of hard events. Two scintigraphic variables added significant prognostic information to the clinical model: the thallium-201 summed reversibility score (summation of segmental differences between stress and redistribution scores) and the presence of increased lung uptake of the radiotracer. The global chi-square statistic for this model was twice as high as that for the clinical/exercise model alone (49.7 vs. 24.2). When a second multivariate Cox model was built adding "soft" events (i.e., late revascularization procedures) as outcomes of interest, the summed reversibility score was selected as an independent scintigraphic predictor of events. The global chi-square statistic for this model was 50.7, three times as high as that for the clinical/exercise model alone. CONCLUSIONS: After evaluation of treadmill and exercise data, thallium-201 myocardial perfusion SPECT provided incremental prognostic information in patients late after bypass.

Noninvasive quantification of left ventricular myocardial mass by gated proton nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.

The validity of cardiac nuclear magnetic resonance imaging for determination of left ventricular myocardial mass was evaluated in nine dogs. A gated spin echo-pulsing sequence was used for in vivo imaging, obtaining 0.7 cm thick slices of the heart spaced by 1 cm. On each imaged slice, the left ventricular surface area was reproducibly determined by planimetry and was multiplied by slice spacing and specific gravity of the myocardium (1.05) to obtain slice mass. Total left ventricular mass was calculated by adding slice masses in short-axis (method I), transaxial (method II) and vertical long-axis (method III) orientations using Simpson's rule. With each method, masses of the portions of the left ventricle subject to partial volume effect either were not accounted for or alternatively were estimated from the same or an orthogonal imaging plane. Calculated left ventricular mass was compared with the actual excised left ventricular weight. With NMR imaging of in situ nonbeating hearts, best results were obtained when either method I or method II was used and partial volume effect was estimated either from the same or an orthogonal plane. With in vivo NMR imaging, best results were noted when method I was used and mass of the partial volume apex was calculated from transaxial slices: Y (in vivo NMR image) = 8.3 + 0.99X, r = 0.996, SEE = 3.14. For this method, the interobserver reliability coefficient and standard error of the measurement were 0.97 and 5.4, respectively. Compared with method I, in vivo methods II and III were associated with larger errors (SEE ranging from 13.03 to 19.03) regardless of the approach used to estimate partial volume effect. It is concluded that NMR imaging is a highly accurate noninvasive method for in vivo measurement of left ventricular mass in dogs and offers promise for accurate measurement of left ventricular mass in patients.

Diffuse slow washout of myocardial thallium-201: a new scintigraphic indicator of extensive coronary artery disease.

When coronary artery disease is extensive and of relatively uniform severity, regional myocardial hypoperfusion may be balanced during stress, precluding development of spatially relative perfusion defects. Assessment of the washout of thallium-201 from myocardial regions may provide diagnostic assistance in these cases because washout analysis is spatially nonrelative and hypoperfused myocardial regions manifest a slow thallium-201 washout rate. In 1,265 consecutive patients having quantitatively analyzed stress-redistribution scintigraphy, 46 had a diffuse slow washout pattern with no or a maximum of one regional perfusion defect. Thirty-two underwent clinically indicated coronary angiography, and 23 (72%) of these were found to have three vessel or left main disease. Of 30 similar patients without a diffuse slow washout pattern and with no or a maximum of one perfusion defect, only 5 (17%) had extensive coronary disease. An independent relation between diffuse slow washout and extensive coronary disease was demonstrated by a Mantel- Haentzel chi-square analysis of a wide variety of other indexes of extensive disease. A diffuse washout abnormality, even in the absence of other scintigraphic, clinical or electrocardiographic indicators, carries a high predictive value for three vessel or left main coronary artery disease. The predictive value is maintained when the exercise level achieved is submaximal. Although an infrequent occurrence (3.6% of tested patients), a diffuse slow washout pattern without other scintigraphic indications of extensive coronary disease should lead to further diagnostic testing.

Space/time quantitation of thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy.

A comprehensive method is described for quantitation of the spatial distribution of TI-201 in the myocardium and its changes with time. The method, applied here to 51 patients, uses bilinear interpolative background subtraction to compensate for tissue crosstalk, and circumferential profiles to quantitate the relative radionuclide activity in the myocardium as an angular function with origin at the center of the left-ventricular cavity. In addition, washout circumferential profiles are calculated as percent washout from the stress circumferential profiles. Abnormal thallium distribution or washout is identified by automatic computer comparison of each patient's profiles with the corresponding limits of normal profiles, determined from the pooled profiles of 31 normal patients. In these 31, the computer output was normal in all cases. In 20 patients with angiographically documented coronary artery disease, 19 were determined to be abnormal by this method. This new computerized treatment provides accurate objective assessment of the presence of coronary artery disease.

Role of thallium-201 and PET imaging in evaluation of myocardial viability and management of patients with coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction.

The reported mortality of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and congestive heart failure is high but variable. In the clinical management of these patients, the available treatment choices are medical therapy, cardiac transplantation and myocardial revascularization. Myocardial revascularization has become an attractive alternative in the management of patients with CAD and poor left ventricular function because medical therapy is associated with a high mortality and cardiac transplantation is expensive and not practical due to shortage of donor hearts. Myocardial revascularization, however, should be recommended in those patients in whom the procedure is very likely to reverse regional and global left ventricular dysfunction and to improve heart failure symptoms and survival. Thallium-201 rest-redistribution myocardial scintigraphy and PET imaging of myocardial perfusion and 18F-fluoro-deoxyglucose metabolism have been extensively evaluated for the assessment of myocardial viability and for prediction of recovery of regional left ventricular dysfunction following myocardial revascularization; with positive and negative predictive accuracies of 72% and 70% for 201Tl rest-redistribution imaging and 83% and 84% for perfusion-metabolism PET imaging. Both modalities also are predictive of improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction after myocardial revascularization. Patients with congestive heart failure who demonstrate the PET pattern of mismatch are more likely to improve their heart failure symptoms following revascularization than those without the mismatch pattern. Furthermore, the PET pattern of mismatch identifies a subgroup of patients who are at very high risk for cardiac death on medical therapy. Survival of these patients can be significantly improved by myocardial revascularization.

Quantitation of extent, depth, and severity of planar thallium defects in patients undergoing exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy.

Previous quantitation of exercise-redistribution planar 201TI scintigraphy has shown high sensitivity and specificity in the detection of coronary artery disease and improved detection of individual coronary stenoses over visual analysis. By using similar methodology based on the circumferential profile method, we studied 133 patients to quantitatively assess the extent, depth, and severity of thallium defects compared with consensus visual analysis. These quantitative measurements are objective, requiring only three operator interactions. In comparing quantitative and visual results, a close correlation was found for measurement of extent of thallium defect (r = 0.73) and severity of defect (r = 0.79). In detecting patients with the high-risk scintigraphic pattern of a severe stress thallium defect, a quantitative depth score of greater than or equal to 36 had an 81% sensitivity and an 82% specificity. Thus, this nearly automatic, computerized quantitative method allows objective determination of extent, severity, and depth of planar 201TI defects.