Chocolate intake may reduce liver count in 99m-Tc-tetrofosmin myocardial SPECT

The accumulation of 99m-Tc-Tetrofosmin (TF) in the liver and intestine may often interfere the image quality of myocardial TF SPECT. Although milk intake before acquisition is recommended to reduce its accumulation by enhancing biliary excretion of TF, some patients cannot accept milk. To elucidate the efficacy of chocolate intake as a substitute for milk, we investigated 72 patients with coronary heart disease who underwent TF SPECT (stress imaging; n=36, rest imaging; n=36). Following injection of TF, the patients were randomly treated either with milk (n=24), or chocolate (n=24). The images were acquired before treatment, at 15 min, at 30 min, and 45 min after treatment. The ratio of liver to heart count (LHR) was calculated and was compared between the two groups. LHR in the stress imaging was not significantly different between the milk-treated and chocolate-treated groups: 1.86 vs 1.87 before treatment, 1.39 vs 1.39 at 30 min, and 1.02 vs 1.03 at 45 min. LHR in the rest imaging was also the same between the two groups: 1.43 vs 1.42 before treatment, 1.22 vs 1.21 at 15 min, and 0.95 vs. 0.95 at 30 min. Chocolate intake may be equally effective to milk intake in reducing the liver accumulation of TF. (author)