Y. Hirose et al., MYOCARDIAL INVOLVEMENT IN PATIENTS WITH SARCOIDOSIS - AN ANALYSIS OF 75 PATIENTS, Clinical nuclear medicine, 19(6), 1994, pp. 522-526
The authors studied 75 nonselected patients (30 men and 45 women; mean
age 48 years) with sarcoidosis retrospectively to assess the applicab
ility of nuclear examinations for detecting myocardial involvement. Al
l patients were studied with Tl-201 myocardial perfusion scan (TMPS),
Ga-67 myocardial scan (GMS), and left ventricular ejection fraction (L
VEF) using ECG-gated radionuclide ventriculography. The positive GMS g
roup had a significantly higher occurrence of abnormality on TMPS (100
%) than the negative GMS group (41%). Patients with TMPS abnormality a
nd positive GMS showed significantly lower LVEF (36.3%) than those of
normal perfusion or negative GMS. When LVEF decreased, occurrences of
TMPS abnormality and positive GMS increased. The authors demonstrate t
hat in patients with sarcoidosis LVEF was closely related to TMPS and
GMS, and LVEF reflected the progression of sarcoid heart disease and c
an be considered a reliable indicator of cardiac function. Patients wi
th sarcoidosis with TMPS abnormality and positive GMS should be though
t to have myocardial sarcoidosis and their cardiac functions can be as
sessed by ECG-gated radionuclide ventriculography, while the remaining
patients should be examined with TMPS and GMS periodically for detect
ion of myocardial involvement.