Mr. Roman et al., The safety of dipyridamole in patients undergoing myocardial perfusion scintigraphy prior to lung volume reduction surgery, EUR J NUCL, 28(9), 2001, pp. 1405-1408
Citations number
6
Categorie Soggetti
Radiology ,Nuclear Medicine & Imaging","Medical Research Diagnosis & Treatment
Patients with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) underg
oing lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) are at high risk of peri-operativ
e cardiac complications, and myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) is com
monly used for risk stratification. This study prospectively assessed the s
afety of dipyridamole in these patients and compared the incidence of side-
effects (particularly dyspnoea) with that in patients undergoing dipyridamo
le MPS prior to elective non-cardiothoracic surgery. Fifty patients were en
rolled: 25 in the LVRS cohort (13 males, 12 females), with a mean age of 65
years and a mean FEV1 of 0.791, and 25 (with no history of asthma or COPD)
in the control cohort (14 males, I I females), with a mean age of 66 years
. Fourteen patients (56%) in each group developed side-effects. Dyspnoea wa
s reported by five patients (20%) in the LVRS and two patients (8%) in the
control cohort (P=NS). One patient in each cohort developed severe hypotens
ion and bradycardia. Eight (32%) other patients developed minor side-effect
s in the LVRS cohort compared with 11 (44%) in the control group. All side-
effects responded promptly to intravenous aminophylline. In summary, there
was a statistically non-significant increase in the incidence of dyspnoea i
n patients with end-stage COPD and all side-effects responded to aminophyll
ine. Thus, dipyridamole can be used safely in these patients.