Method for Studying the Myocardial Blood Flow Reserve by Load Dynamic Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography

Abstract

We developed a method for collection and processing of scintigraphic data to estimate myocardial reserve in a gamma-chamber with cadmium-zinc-telluride detectors. Dynamic single-photon emission computed tomography of the heart with ^99mTc-Technetril was performed in 16 coronary heart disease patients at rest and during pharmacological load. During data processing, regions of interest from the cavity and the myocardium of the left ventricle were formed and activity–time curves were constructed. The index of myocardial blood fl ow reserve was calculated as the difference between two ratios of the mean gamma-count from the myocardial area to the area under the left ventricle cavity curve (peak) during load and at rest. The mean indices of myocardial reserve in healthy volunteers and patients with coronary artery atherosclerosis were 1.86 (1.59; 2.20) and 1.39 (1.12; 1.69), respectively. The development of the method for studying myocardial reserve by single-photon emission computed tomography is an urgent problem and requires further investigations.