Original study
Identification of recurrent ischemia after coronary artery bypass surgery: a comparison of positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography

https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-5273(92)90052-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Current techniques for the detection of recurrent coronary stenoses following bypass grafting have shown disappointing diagnostic accuracy. This study used the same dipyridamole-handgrip stress to compare the accuracy of rubidium-82 positron emission tomography and thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography, in 50 consecutive post-bypass patients undergoing coronary arteriography at a mean interval of 6.5 years after surgery. Significant stenoses in native coronary vessels (> 50% diameter) or grafts (> 70% diameter) were defined by quantitative angiography. Forty-six patients had recurrent or residual stenoses, 43 (93%) had a perfusion defect identified by positron emission tomography, and 35 (76%) were identified by single photon emission computed tomography (P = 0.04). Fourteen of the 17 patients (82%) without previous Q-wave myocardial infarction were identified by positron emission tomography; 10 of the 17 (59%) were detected by single photon emission computed tomography (P = NS). Stress-induced perfusion defects were demonstrated by positron emission tomography in 19 patients; of this group, thallium imaging identified reversible defects in 11, showed no perfusion defect in 1, and portrayed a persistent defect in 7 patients. Significant graft disease was present in 33 patients; perfusion defects were identified by positron emission tomography in 30 (91%), and by single photon emission computed tomography in 24 (73%, P = NS). Four patients were fully revascularized, without significant recurrent coronary disease; normal perfusion was present in 3 (75%) by positron emission tomography, and 4 (100%) by single photon emission computed tomography. Myocardial perfusion imaging using positron emission tomography has a high accuracy for the detection of both graft and native vessel disease, and may be useful in the non-invasive follow-up of patients following coronary artery bypass grafting.

References (33)

  • National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Coronary Artery Surgery Study

    Circulation

    (1981)
  • RI Hamby et al.

    Aortocoronary saphenous vein bypass grafts: long-term patency, morphology and blood flow in patients with patent grafts early after surgery

    Circulation

    (1979)
  • AH Gershlick et al.

    Long-term clinical outcome of coronary surgery and assessment of the benefit obtained with post-operative aspirin and dipyridamole

    Br Heart J

    (1988)
  • PS Robinson et al.

    Thallium-201 myocardial imaging in assessment of results of aortocoronary bypass surgery

    Br Heart J

    (1979)
  • HO Hirzel et al.

    Thallium-201 exercise myocardial imaging to evaluate myocardial perfusion after coronary artery bypass surgery

    Br Heart J

    (1980)
  • RJ Wainwright et al.

    Exercise thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy in the follow-up of aortocoronary bypass graft surgery

    Br Heart J

    (1980)
  • Cited by (10)

    • Cardiac PET: Metabolic and functional imaging of the myocardium

      2013, Seminars in Nuclear Medicine
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, the studies included in this review were heterogeneous in terms of design, many of them were subjected to significant referral bias, and there were no studies that directly compared the 2 modalities within the same study. Several studies performed a direct comparison between 82Rb PET and Thallium SPECT,22-24 whereas 1 compared 82Rb PET and Tc-99m SPECT with ECG gating but without using attenuation correction.25 82Rb PET showed superior accuracy in all of these studies and the results are summarized in Figure 1.

    • Does rubidium-82 PET have superior accuracy to SPECT perfusion imaging for the diagnosis of obstructive coronary disease?: A systematic review and meta-analysis

      2012, Journal of the American College of Cardiology
      Citation Excerpt :

      A large proportion of both Rb-82 PET (10 of 15) and Tc-99m SPECT (5 of 8) studies were affected by referral bias whereby the referral for ICA may have been influenced by the results of the perfusion scan. In 4 of 15 PET (7,9,24,25) and 6 of 8 (10,11,13,14,27,28) SPECT studies it was unclear whether the ICA results were blinded to the results of the perfusion imaging. Patient withdrawals and non-interpretable results were not reported in the majority of both SPECT and PET studies, primarily due their retrospective nature.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Presented in part at the 12th Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, Stockholm, Sweden, August 1990.

    View full text