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Published in: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2/2019

01-04-2019 | Computed Tomography | Original Article

Assessment of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction by Thallium-201 Myocardial SPECT-CT in Patients with Angina Pectoris: Comparison with 2D Echocardiography

Authors: Ji Young Kim, Hwan-Cheol Park, Soo Jeong Kim, Hyung Seok Chang, Hyung Jin Choi, Young Hwan Kim

Published in: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | Issue 2/2019

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Abstract

Purpose

Left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) is an important parameter for assessing cardiac systolic function and predicting prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of assessing LVEF by Tl-201 hybrid myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT using two attenuation correction methods in patients with angina pectoris.

Methods

A total of 339 patients with angina pectoris (62.8 ± 12.9 years, male:female = 206:133) were analyzed. All patients underwent Tl-201 myocardial SPECT/CT and transthoracic two-dimensional (2D) echocardiograph. We compared LVEF assessed by SPECT/CT using two attenuation correction methods: CT-based attenuation correction (CTAC) and non-attenuation correction (non-AC) methods and 2D echocardiography.

Results

LVEF assessed by either of the two attenuation correction techniques and 2D echocardiography showed moderate correlation in all patients with angina pectoris (r = 0.487 for CTAC and r = 0.473 for non-AC, p < 0.001). Results were similar in the subgroup of patients with perfusion abnormalities on myocardial SPECT/CT images. Overall diagnostic performances were similar for the CTAC and non-AC methods for evaluating normal and decreased LVEF by myocardial SPECT/CT.

Conclusion

LVEF measured by the CTAC method of Tl-201-gated myocardial SPECT/CT was comparable with the conventional non-AC method in patients with angina pectoris and in the subgroup of patients with perfusion abnormality. Tl-201-gated myocardial hybrid SPECT/CT can be a reliable tool in the assessment of LVEF in clinic.
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Metadata
Title
Assessment of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction by Thallium-201 Myocardial SPECT-CT in Patients with Angina Pectoris: Comparison with 2D Echocardiography
Authors
Ji Young Kim
Hwan-Cheol Park
Soo Jeong Kim
Hyung Seok Chang
Hyung Jin Choi
Young Hwan Kim
Publication date
01-04-2019
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging / Issue 2/2019
Print ISSN: 1869-3474
Electronic ISSN: 1869-3482
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-019-00575-0

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