Continuous determination of regional myocardial blood flow with intracoronary krypton-81m in coronary artery disease

Pacing-induced changes in regional coronary flow were studied continuously with krypton-81m by intracoronary infusion in 25 patients: 21 with 50% or greater diameter narrowing of 1 or more left coronary arteries (group I) and 4 with less than 50% diameter reduction of a left coronary artery (group II). No changes occurred in group II. In group I, krypton-81m perfusion decreased progressively in all areas with more than 70% diameter narrowing, with a simultaneous increase in normal regions. At the end of pacing during angina, krypton-81m perfusion was reduced to 81 +/- 4% of control in areas with 71 to 90% diameter reduction (n = 8) and to 69 +/- 6% in areas with more than 90% diameter narrowing (n = 15). In contrast, in regions with 50 to 70% diameter reduction changes were variable (decrease in 4 regions, increase in 2 and an unchanged distribution in 1 region). Krypton-81m perfusion decreased early, before general signs of ischemia in areas with more than 90% diameter reduction, whereas this decrease occurred later in regions with 71 to 90% diameter narrowing, concurrently with ST-segment changes but before anginal pain. Although all signs of ischemia had disappeared between 2 and 5 minutes after pacing, changes in krypton-81...Continue Reading