Stress-Induced Reversible and Mild-to-Moderate Irreversible Thallium Defects

BACKGROUND: In patients with coronary artery disease, stress-redistribution-reinjection thallium scintigraphy provides important information regarding myocardial ischemia and viability. Although both reversible and mild-to-moderate irreversible thallium defects retain metabolically active, viable myocardium, we hypothesized that stress-induced reversible thallium defects may better differentiate reversible from irreversible regional left ventricular dysfunction after revascularization. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-four patients with chronic coronary artery disease underwent prerevascularization and postrevascularization exercise-redistribution-reinjection thallium single photon emission CT, gated MRI, and radionuclide angiography. After revascularization, mean left ventricular ejection fraction increased from 30+/-9% to 37+/-13% at rest (P<0.001). Before revascularization, abnormal contraction at rest was observed in 56 of 110 reversible and 20 of 37 mild-to-moderate irreversible thallium defects (51% and 54%, respectively). After revascularization, regional contraction improved in 44 of 56 reversible compared with 6 of 20 mild-to-moderate irreversible thallium defects (79% and 30%, respectively; P<0.001). The final thallium content (maximum tracer uptake on redistribution-reinjection images) was significantly higher in regions with reversible defects that improved than in those that did not improve after revascularization (86+/-16% versus 66+/-9%, P<0.001). In contrast, final thallium content was similar in regions with mild-to-moderate irreversible defects that improved and in those that did not improve after revascularization (69+/-9% versus 65+/-10%, P=NS). Furthermore, when asynergic regions were grouped according to the final thallium content, at 60% threshold value, functional recovery was observed in 83% of regions with reversible defects compared with 33% of regions with mild-to-moderate irreversible defects (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that although both reversible and mild-to-moderate irreversible thallium defects after stress retain viable myocardium, the identification of reversible thallium defect on stress in an asynergic region more accurately predicts recovery of function after revascularization. Even at a similar mass of viable myocardial tissue (as reflected by the final thallium content), the presence of inducible ischemia is associated with an increased likelihood of functional recovery.