Research Information System
NUCLEAR MEDICINE COMMUNICATIONS, vol.17, no.10, pp.864-871, 1996 (SCI-Expanded)
To investigate the role of sublingual nitrate plus Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin infusion in the detection of severely ischaemic but viable myocardium, we selected 25 patients with coronary artery disease who had at least one fixed segmental defect during conventional stress-redistribution (ST-RD) Tl-201 Single photon emission tomographic (SPET) imaging. Reinjection (RT) and 24 h late redistribution (LRD) imaging were also performed. Within a week of Tl-201 imaging, one-day rest-stress (R-ST) Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin SPET was performed with the same stress levels. The following day, Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin was infused over Ih immediately after sublingual nitrate administration and SPET images (N + Inf) were acquired. Of 100 fixed defects on R-ST Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin imaging, 15 were reversible on N + Inf Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin imaging. There was 91% concordance between ST-RD/RI/LRD Tl-201 and R-ST/N + Inf Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin imaging regarding reversibility. We conclude that N + Inf Tc-99(m)-tetrofosmin imaging may be clinically useful in the detection of severely ischaemic but viable myocardium.