MULTIPARAMETRIC DETECTION OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CARDIAC DYSFUNCTION WITH THE NUCLEAR STETHOSCOPE.

The Nuclear Stethoscope (NS) is an ECG-gated scintillation probe with a positioning algorithm (ALG) which defines optimal left ventricular (LV) and background (BKG) sampling sites. Sixty-eight patients underwent NS and gamma camera scintangiography (ANG) to determine the effect regional wall motion abnormalities (RWM) might have on ALG and to evaluate the utility of LV function parameters provided automatically by the NS. Pulmonary transit time, ejection fraction (EF), ejection rate (EJR), fast-filling rate (FFR), relative end diastolic and stroke volumes, and relative cardiac output (RCO) were collected and displayed by the NS following injection of 15 mCi Tc-99m blood pool agent. Probe placement was marked at ANG. ANG identified LV dysfunction (ABNL) in 50 of 68 patients. The RCO, EJR, FFR, and EF/FFT individually and especially together expand the ability of the NS to predict ABNL beyond simple EF analysis. ALG directs the probe over the best contracting LV segment, significantly elevating EF in RWM.