Relationships between the lung-heart ratio assessed from post-exercise thallium-201 myocardial tomograms, myocardial ischemia and the extent of coronary artery disease
Abstract
Uptake of thallium (Tl)-201 in the lungs has been proposed as a measure of left ventricular dysfunction. In this study we were interested in pursuing two goals: 1) to assess possible relationships between the post-exercise Tl-201 lung-heart (LH)-ratio determined from the anterior view during SPECT-acquisition, myocardial ischemia and the extent of coronary artery disease; and 2) to explore the effects of coronary revascularisation procedures on the LH-ratio. The study group consisted of 145 patients with early and late postexercise Tl-201 tomograms, including 32 PTCA-patients with pre- and post-PTCA studies and 20 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) with corresponding pre- and post-CABG studies. Ischemia was defined as evoked angina during the exercise test in combination with greater than or equal to 1 mm horizontal or downsloping ST-depression on the ECG. The severity of coronary obstructions was assessed from coronary angiograms with a PC-based digital caliper technique; a stenosis was defined to be significant when its severity exceeded 50% diameter stenosis. The LH-ratio was defined by the ratio of the mean pulmonary counts and the mean myocardial counts assessed from corresponding regions of inter...Continue Reading
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