Dipyridamole infusion protocols for absolute myocardial blood flow quantitation by PET

Excerpt

In this issue of the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, F. Harel et al compare the effect of two dipyridamole dosing protocols on absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF).1 Patients were retrospectively identified over a 12-month period in a single center, and only those patients who had a coronary artery calcium (CAC) score available and whose CAC score was 0 were retained for analyses. Additional exclusion criteria including myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) scans with a sum stress score > 3, and body mass index (BMI) > 45, were applied. In the first half of the study period, patients underwent a 4-minute dipyridamole infusion protocol (n = 65, standard dipyridamole dose of 0.56 mg/kg over 4 minutes), and during the second half, patients underwent a 5-minute protocol (n = 82, higher dipyridamole dose of 0.70 mg/kg over 5 minutes). ⁸²Rb-chloride was used as the positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceutical in all patients. …