myocardial perfusion imaging

myocardial perfusion imaging, medical procedure that uses radioactive tracers, primarily thallium, to detect abnormalities in the blood supply to the heart muscle. Myocardial perfusion imaging is used to diagnose myocardial ischemia, which is caused by a reduced supply of blood to the heart; myocardial infarction, or heart attack, which is an interruption of blood flow to an area of the heart; and coronary heart disease, which is an inadequate supply of blood to the heart due to the narrowing of a coronary artery.

Injected intravenously, the radioactive tracer is rapidly absorbed by the myocardium, the middle layer of muscle tissue that forms most of the wall of the heart. The tracer is normally distributed evenly in heart muscle. Thus, deficient blood flow to a portion of the myocardium is readily detectable by decreased uptake in that area. Evidence of recent and not-so-recent myocardial infarcts will be visible, but most persons with coronary heart disease who have not had a previous infarction will have normal perfusion patterns when they are at rest. In such a patient a thallium stress test is performed; the substance is injected while the individual is exercising so that areas of transient ischemia (temporary reduction in blood flow to the heart) can be identified and the patient treated to prevent myocardial infarction. An alternative means of stressing the heart that can provide information comparable to exercise is the injection of adenosine, a vasodilator. This test is used to diagnose coronary heart disease when the resting electrocardiogram is abnormal or the exercise electrocardiogram is equivocal (see electrocardiography).

Another method for evaluating the heart without the stress of exercise involves the intravenous injection of the drug dobutamine while monitoring the effects via echocardiography. By using dobutamine echocardiography, the heart condition of frail patients and those who have heart disease or physical limitations that preclude exercise can be evaluated. Dobutamine induces the same changes in the heart that would occur during a standard exercise test. Two-dimensional echocardiography shows areas of the left ventricle that function abnormally. This technique uses no X-ray or radioactive material and is useful in diagnosing heart disease during pregnancy.