Abstract

Twenty-six patients underwent conventional exercise/4-h redistribution thallium myocardial perfusion imaging as well as rest/exercise imaging on different days. For the rest/exercise study, patients were imaged 10 min after receiving 1 mCi thallium at rest. The resting study was immediately followed by symptom-limited treadmill exercise. Patients were injected with 2 mCi thallium at peak exercise and imaged 10 min later. The entire rest/exercise study was completed in 2 h. There was a high degree of correlation between the two studies. Of the 130 segments analysed, 84 were normal and 46 were abnormal by exercise/redistribution imaging whereas 88 were normal and 42 were abnormal by rest/exercise imaging. Among the 14 patients who had coronary arteriography, both exercise/redistribution and rest/exercise imaging correctly identified 23/35 segments as abnormal (sensitivity [pi003] 66%) and 34/35 segments as normal (specificity = 97%). Furthermore, abnormal segments were more likely to be reversible on the rest/exercise study. The results suggest that the accuracy of rest/exercise thallium imaging is equal to conventional exercise/redistribution imaging in the evaluation of coronary artery disease. The significant time economy and possible improvement in assessing myocardial viability are important potential advantages of this new technique.

View details for Web of Science ID A1993LF94700009

View details for PubMedID 8321485