E. Herzog et al., DIAGNOSIS OF PERICARDIAL-EFFUSION AND ITS EFFECTS ON VENTRICULAR-FUNCTION USING GATED TC-99M SESTAMIBI PERFUSION SPECT, Clinical nuclear medicine, 23(6), 1998, pp. 361-364
Pericardial effusion is a common disorder associated with a variety of
medical disorders. Diagnostic methods of choice include echocardiogra
phy, CT, and MRI. However, diagnosing pericardial effusion with radion
uclides is uncommon. A pericardial effusion under pressure may result
in tamponade and hemodynamic compromise, which constitutes a cardiac e
mergency, necessitating emergency intervention with pericardiocentesis
or pericardiotomy. Presented is an unusual case of a patient who was
referred to the nuclear cardiology laboratory for evaluation of atypic
al chest pain using stress and rest Tc-99m sestamibi perfusion SPECT.
The patient had a large pericardial effusion evident on planar project
ion images and tomograms. From the gated perfusion study, the authors
were able to evaluate left and right ventricular function and to exclu
de cardiac tamponade because there was no evidence of diastolic collap
se of the right ventricle.