Skip Navigation

European Heart Journal 1991 12(6):1064-1069;
Copyright © 1991 by the European Society of Cardiology.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by MARWICK, T. H.
Right arrow Articles by UNDERWOOD, D. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by MARWICK, T. H.
Right arrow Articles by UNDERWOOD, D. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1991 The European Society of Cardiology

Myocardial perfusion imaging with positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography: frequency and causes of disparate results

T. H. MARWICK, R. T. GO, W. J. MACINTYRE, G. B. SAHA and D. A. UNDERWOOD

Departments of Cardiology and Nuclear Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.

Received 30 July 1990; revised 1 November 1990; .

Correspondence: Dr T. Marwick, Department of Cardiology, University of Louvain Medical School, Cliniques Universitaires St Luc. Avenue Hippocrate 10 (BTE 28.81), 1200 Brussels. Belgium

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare rubidium-82 PET with thallium-201 SPECT imaging in 150 patients. Both techniques followed a single dipyridamole-handgrip stress, and images were displayed using the same 3-dimensional format and quantitative colour scale. Coronary arteriography was employed to assign the correct diagnosis in situations of disparity.

Results of PET and SPECT were at least partially concordant in 110 patients (73%), although 22 had more than one defect. A reversible perfusion defect was identified in 60 patients, but the scans were concordant in only 20 (33%). These disparities were chiefly due to false-negative SPECT imaging (22 patients, 55%), and probable delayed thallium redistri bution (13 patients, 33%). No patients had ischaemia correctly identified by SPECT in the presence of normal PET imaging. Persistent defects were identified in 91 patients, some of whom also had reversible defects, and the results were consistent in 54 (59%). Other than the delayed thallium redistribution group, the major categories causing disparities were false-positive (6 patients, 16%), and false negative SPECT (8 patients, 22%), attributable to attenuation and scatter.

PET appears able to identify smaller, less ischaemic areas subtended by milder coronary stenoses. The availability of a true resting scan with Rb-PET enhances the discrimination between ischaemia and infarction. Attenuation correction, and the high energy photons of positron annihilation, yield more accurate evaluation of inferior wall defects and greater specificity in the presence of soft tissue attenuation.

Key Words: Myocardial perfusion imaging • positron emission tomography (PET) • rubidium-82 • single photonemission computed tomography (SPECT) • thallium-201


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.