FIRST PASS TC-99M MIBI VENTRICULOGRAPHY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEFT-VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC FUNCTION A COMPARISON WITH DOPPLER-ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Tc-99m MIBI is used for myocardial imaging and first-pass studies. How ever, little is known about its utility in the assessment of left vent ricular diastolic function, The authors retrospectively compared first pass studies of Tc-99m MIBI at rest with Doppler flow velocity measur ements to assess left ventricular diastolic performance, Thirty-nine p atients who had both studies performed within 48 hours of each other w ere evaluated. Three indices of diastolic function were measured by fi rst pass, Tc-99m MIBI ventriculography and Doppler echocardiography: 1 ) Time to peak early diastolic velocity; 2) normalized peak filling ra te; and 3) half filling fraction, The results demonstrated a correlati on of 0.82 (P < 0.001), 0.82 (P < 0.001), and 0.53 (P = 0.001) for the above indices, respectively. This study indicates that the indices of left ventricular diastolic function by first pass Tc-99m MIBI compare favorably with those derived from Doppler flow velocity measurements in which the diagnostic value has been previously established. Both me thods accurately reflect diastolic flow and may facilitate clinical ev aluation of diastolic function.