A method to identify early ventricular dysfunction using resting gated blood pool scans (GBPS) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD)

To determine the sensitivity of regional 1st and 2nd time derivative (1DV, 2DV) images to assess ventricular function (VF) in CAD, the resting GBPS of 8 normal patients (pts) and 20 pts with CAD who had coronary angiography and contrast ventriculography (CV) were analyzed. The 1DV and 2DV of the systolic time-activity curve were determined for each left ventricular pixel in the GBPS. These values were displayed as functional images that were reviewed by three readers to determine the presence of regional abnormalities. No regional abnormalities were seen in the conventional GBPS or 1DV or 2DV images of the 8 normal pts. Regional GBPS and DV image abnormalities were seen in all 10 pts with CAD and abnormal wall motion by CV. The DV image abnormalities were in the distribution of 18/22 coronary arteries (CA) with ≥50% stenoses; 2 of these regions showed normal wall motion by CV and conventional GBPS. DV images were abnormal in 2/8 CAs without significant stenoses. In addition, regional DV image abnormalities were present in 9 of 10 pts with CAD who had normal wall motion and global ejection fraction by both CV and resting GBPS. These 10 pts showed regional abnormalities in the distribution of 13/15 CAs with significant stenoses and 2/15 CAs without such stenoses. The results suggest that time derivative functional images derived from resting GBPS provide a more sensitive means for detecting regional left ventricular dysfunction than several other current methods, especially in pts with mild CAD