-Review-

Clinical Applications of ECG-gated Myocardial Perfusion SPECT

Shin-ichiro Kumita, Keiichi Cho, Hidenobu Nakajo, Masahiro Toba, Yoshimitsu Fukushima, Sunao Mizumura and Tatsuo Kumazaki

Department of Clinical Radiology, Nippon Medical School Graduate School of Medicine

Erectrocardiogram (ECG)-gated myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be used to assess myocardial perfusion and left ventricular function simultaneously. Various clinical applications of gated SPECT and their usefulness have been reported. The functional variables that can be determined with gated SPECT have been limited to systolic indices. Therefore, we evaluated left ventricular diastolic function with gated SPECT using data obtained from various frames per cardiac cycle and found that date generated from 32-frames are suitable for clinical use. Serial assessment of left ventricular function was also performed during bicycle exercise and dobutamine stress by means of gated SPECT using short-time data collection. These techniques, therefore, have the potential to provide useful information for evaluating myocardial conditions, such as hibernation and residual ischemia in infarct areas. Recently, we have developed a new technique for three-dimensional registration of CT coronary angiography (CTCA) and ECG-gated myocardial perfusion SPECT. This technique of registration may assist the integration of information from gated SPECT and CTCA and may have clinical application for the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. These various applications would contribute to the development of nuclear cardiology.

J Nippon Med Sch 2006; 73: 248-257

Keywords
myocardial perfusion SPECT, gated SPECT, ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, exercise, dobutamine stress

Correspondence to
Shin-ichiro Kumita, MD, Department of Radiology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan
s-kumita@nms.ac.jp

Received, July 26, 2006
Accepted, September 5, 2006