Evaluation of left ventricular function in patient with old myocardial infarction by 201-thallium myocardial scintigraphy

Correlation between the ratio of myocardial defect calculated by 201-thallium myocardial scintigraphy and the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) obtained by gated blood pool scintigraphy and the maximum level of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) was studied in 70 patients with old myocardial infarction. There was a significant correlation between the defect ratio and the LVEF or CPK level in patients with anterior or septal myocardial infarction. In all patients with inferior myocardial infarction in whom no defect w as seen, the LVEF was more than 40%. However, no distinct correlation between the defect ratio and the LVEF or CPK level was obtained in cases of inferior myocardial infarction. (Namekawa, K.)