Exercise and redistribution myocardial scintigraphy with thallium-201 in patients with coronary artery disease

Exercise and redistribution myocardial scintigraphy using thallium-201 was performed in 23 patients with clinically typical coronary artery disease or with suspected coronary disease. Coronarographic findings were compared with the results of scintigraphic examination and exercise test. New defect appearance or enlargement of the pre-existing defect in exercise scintigram in comparison to redistribution scintigram was found in 12 out of 15 patients with at least 50% stenosis of at least one of three main coronary arteries. In this group electrocardiographic effort tolerance test was positive in 9 cases. In 2 patients with clinical suspicion of coronary arterial disease but normal ventriculography and coronarography the myocardial pattern was normal during exercise scintigraphy, while the result of the effort tolerance test was positive in one case. Myocardial scintigraphy using one dose of thallium-201 connected with effort tolerance test is a non-invasive method for determination of local disturbances in myocardial perfusion and may serve as a screening test for coronarographic investigations. (author)