Myocardial Perfusion Defects and the Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Disclosed by Scintigraphy in Patients with Primary Hyperparathyroidism

Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) have increased risk of cardiovascular disease. For patients undergoing preoperative parathyroid imaging with ^99mTc-sestamibi single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), we combined cervical SPECT and gated cardiac SPECT to achieve information about the localization of parathyroid adenomas, myocardial perfusion, and the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at rest. A series of 22 patients with PHPT and no history of myocardial infarction or angina pectoris were recruited consecutively. At 60 minutes after injection of 700 MBq ^99mTc-sestamibi, SPECT of the neck and gated myocardial perfusion SPECT were performed at the same time. All of the patients who underwent parathyroidectomy had the parathyroid adenoma localized as predicted from the SPECT. Five patients (23%) had myocardial perfusion defects extending more than 15% (range 15–25%), and they had higher plasma parathyroid hormone levels (p = 0.03), and lower LVEF (p = 0.007) than patients without perfusion defects. We suggest that patients with hyperparathyroidism and suspected cardiovascular disease undergo^99m Tc-sestamibi parathyroid SPECT simultaneously with gated myocardial perfusion SPECT to obtain information about the resting perfusion status and cardiac systolic function. The results from myocardial perfusion SPECT can lead to initiation of cardiovascular treatment and eventually perioperative precautions.