Myocardial viability assessment with technetium-99m-tetrofosmin and thallium-201 reinjection in coronary artery disease.

UNLABELLED: Exercise-rest 99mTc-tetrofosmin myocardial perfusion images with a 2-day protocol was compared to exercise-redistribution-reinjection 201Tl images to assess the ability of 99mTc-tetrofosmin to detect viable myocardium. METHODS: We studied 25 patients with coronary artery disease and regional or global left ventricular dysfunction. Myocardial SPECT images with 99mTc-tetrofosmin were obtained 10 min after injection during exercise and 1 and 3 hr after rest injection. Within 1 wk of the 99mTc-tetrofosmin study, exercise-redistribution-reinjection 201Tl SPECT imaging was performed. RESULTS: Visual analysis demonstrated concordance between 201Tl and 99mTc-tetrofosmin imaging for defect reversibility in 126 of 209 segments (60%), with initial defects on both exercise 201Tl and 99mTc-tetrofosmin images. In the remaining discordant 83 segments (40%), 73 (88%) appeared nonreversible on 99mTc-tetrofosmin imaging but were reversible on 201Tl imaging. CONCLUSION: On the basis of defect reversibility by visual analysis, exercise-rest 99mTc-tetrofosmin imaging underestimates myocardial viability compared to 201Tl reinjection imaging. The identification of viable myocardium with both 99mTc-tetrofosmin and 201Tl can be greatly enhanced to a similar degree if the severity of reduction in activity within nonreversible defects is considered. These two agents may provide comparable information about myocardial viability by quantitative analysis of defect severity.