What is myocardial perfusion scintigraphy?

Let me try to: Myocardial perfusion scan is a nuclear medicine procedure that illustrates the function of the heart muscle (myocardium). It evaluates many heart conditions from coronary artery disease to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and myocardial wall motion abnormalities. The function of the myocardium is also evaluated by calculating the left ventricular ejection fraction (lvef) of the heart. Good luck.

Cardiac blood supply: A cardiac perfusion scan measures the amount of blood supplied to your heart muscle. Radiotracers such as thallium or technetium sestamibi are injected intravenously and travel through blood to heart muscle. Two sets of images are made during rest and exercise are compared. Indications for this study include chest pain, previous heart attack, heart surgery and coronary artery disease.

Cardiac scan: Myocardial perfusion scan refers to the intravenous administration of a radiotracer which is distributed in proportion of the blood flow to the heart. It is mainly used for detection of coronary stenosis ( blockage of cardiac artery). It is performed in two steps, one at rest and one at stress ( either treadmill or pharmacological test with Dipyridamole adenosine, regadenoson or dobutamine).

Another name: For a nuclear stress test...Sometimes done as stress only as well as rest & stress.