99mTc-MIBI myocardial tomography with intravenous infusion of adenosine triphosphate in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease

To evaluate its feasibility, safety and diagnostic accuracy, 99mTc-MIBI myocardial tomography with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) infusion (0.16 mg/kg/min for 5 min) was performed in 100 consecutive patients using the stress/rest one day protocol. None of the patients required treatment with aminophylline during the study. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting patients with coronary artery disease were 97% and 71%, respectively. Those for detecting individual coronary lesion (≥75% stenosis) were 92% and 89%, respectively. The high hepatic uptake of 99mTc-MIBI causes artifactual perfusion defects in the inferior myocardial wall, particularly on ATP stress images. In order to reduce this artifactual phenomenon, the interval time between injection and stress imaging must be increased. (author)