The advantages of early post-stress Gated SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging in comparison with standard post-stress protocol in patients with mildly impaired left ventricular function

International Conference on Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Therapy

July 14-15, 2016 Cologne, Germany

Ljiljana Bojic

Clinical Centre of Montenegro, Montenegro

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nucl Med Radiat Ther

Abstract :

As reported by the World Health Organisation, cardiovascular diseases are the principal cause of death globally. Non-invasive cardiac imaging techniques, in particular stress photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) have a central role in the diagnostic workup and risk assessment of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). The combined assessment of perfusion and function of left ventricle (LV) improves prognostic power and enhances the precision in stratifying patients into cardiac events risk levels, and show the incremental value over clinical and exersice characteristics in predicting cardiac events in the future. â�?�?Gatedâ�? SPECT MPI provides information about: the extent and severity of reversible as well as the size of irreversible perfusion defects; the percentage of myocardium at risk, but also about transient myocardium dysfunction after stress-induced ischemia, known as myocardial stunning. It is shown that the patients with reversible stress perfusion defects frequently have a post-stress decline of LV ejection fraction more than 5% ,along with new regional wall motion abnormality, indicating prolonged post-ischemic stunning. Post-stress â�?�?gatedâ�? SPECT MPI is acquired typically 45-60 min after injection of the radiopharmaceutical - at the time when ventricular function might have alrady recovered, especially in patients with mildly impaired LV function. This fact represents a potential limitation in sensitivity of standard post-stress protocol. Early acquisition provides perfusion informations, but also, detects changes of short duration (stunning) and increase the prognostic value of the method in patients with known or suspected CAD.

Biography :

Email: bojicljiljana@yahoo.com