PMID: 2093742Jan 1, 1990Paper

Quantification of the extent of myocardial infarction by thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography: comparisons with post-mortem findings

Journal of cardiology
H IdeK Harumi

Abstract

A circumferential profile analysis with a two-dimensional polar representation of thallium(Tl)-201 myocardial single photon emission computed tomograms (SPECT) is an objective and quantitative method to evaluate myocardial infarction (MI). However, the diagnostic capability depends on the normal range of thallium distribution. Therefore, the quantitative analysis of Tl-201 myocardial SPECT was correlated with the pathological findings of the heart in 50 autopsy cases (28 with MI; 22 without MI) to determine the lower normal limits at which we can precisely determine the extent of MI on a quantitative basis. For correctly detecting the extent of MI, the lower normal limits were 2.5 standard deviations below the mean values calculated using profiles normalized to the maximum pixel count observed in each profile. Using this lower normal limit, the sensitivity was 63.8%; specificity was 87.4%; and accuracy was 80.7% for determining the extents of ischemic lesions, though these values were lower than those obtained by visual analysis. However, for detecting MI, the sensitivity by quantitative analysis was 97% which was higher than that by visual analysis. A medium sized (2.5 cm) non-transmural infarction, undetectable by visual anal...Continue Reading

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