Thoracic bone imaging after the Heimlich maneuver.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Cerino.
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The extent of jeopardized myocardium can be underestimated on stress thallium myocardial perfusion images when exercise tolerance is limited by angina pectoris. A patient's tolerance for pain can influence the degree of myocardial ischemia observed on myocardial perfusion images during effort angina. A case is reported of a patient with angina pectoris showing mild ischemia limited to one myocardial segment on exercise thallium images, but severe and extensive reversible perfusion defects during dipyridamole-thallium imaging, and a 70% stenosis of the left main coronary artery on coronary angiography.
Thallium-dipyridamole imaging is a very sensitive test for predicting cardiac events after noncardiac surgery, but it lacks specificity. To improve specificity, a semiquantitative scoring system was developed that combined dipyridamole-induced reversible left ventricular dilatation with scintigraphic indexes for severity and extent of reversible perfusion defects. Using this scoring system, patients were classified into low, intermediate and high risk subgroups. Thallium-dipyridamole imaging was performed in 66 patients before major general and vascular surgery. Thirty-nine patients classified as low risk (30 with normal scans and 9 with fixed defects) underwent surgery uneventfully. Surgery was cancelled in 6 patients with extensive thallium redistribution and coronary angiography was performed because of severe coronary artery disease in 5 and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in 1. In the remaining 21 patients with thallium redistribution, a positive statistical correlation (p = 0.001) between scintigraphic indexes of severity and extent, and cardiac events was noted. Using cutoff values for the scintigraphic indexes, patients with reversible defects could be classified into intermediate and high risk subgroups. Only 1 of 11 patients at intermediate risk developed a complication, whereas 8 of 10 patients at high risk had a postoperative event (7 deaths and 1 myocardial infarction). Thus, using scintigraphic indexes for severity and extent, patients with reversible defects can be stratified into an intermediate risk subgroup that can safely undergo surgery and a high risk subgroup that requires coronary angiography.
In view of the high rate of loosening of conventional cemented hip prostheses, cementless implants are gaining popularity in Europe and North America. Smooth-surfaced "press fit" prostheses are designed for autolocking in the femoral canal at the time of installation. Fifteen patients were prospectively followed by bone imaging with Tc-99m MDP at three-month intervals after cementless "press fit" hip arthroplasty to define the "normal" distribution of mechanical stress to the surrounding bone, as well as the incorporation of bone allografts used for reconstruction of resorption sites in cases of revision surgery.
We describe the occurrence of sudden severe bronchospasm and respiratory arrest following dipyridamole infusion in a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease predominantly of the emphysematous type. The severe reaction was unexpected because the patient had tolerated well withdrawal of aminophylline derivatives for 48 hours and was receiving chronic prednisone 20 mg qd. Although the diagnostic and prognostic gains from dipyridamole imaging far outweigh the small risk associated with the test, patients with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease must be closely monitored during thallium-dipyridamole imaging.
A patient developed transient exacerbation of a mitral insufficiency murmur and a reversible posterior wall perfusion defect during dipyridamole-thallium imaging. Coronary angiography showed significant stenoses of both the right and the circumflex coronary arteries that supply the posterior papillary muscle. Cardiac auscultation for transient mitral incompetence, a sign of reversible papillary muscle dysfunction, is a simple and practical adjunctive test for myocardial ischemia during dipyridamole-thallium imaging. It may confirm that an isolated reversible posterior wall myocardial perfusion defect is truly ischemic in nature as opposed to an artifact resulting from attenuation by the diaphragm.
Primary coronary dissection is usually a catastrophic event with a fatal outcome; less than 20 cases of long term survival have been reported. A 32-year-old woman with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who survived a spontaneous dissection of the left anterior descending coronary artery and acute anterior wall infarction two days postpartum is described. To the authors' knowledge, the simultaneous occurrence of these two rare conditions has never been previously reported. Thallium-dipyridamole imaging was performed to estimate the amount of residual viable myocardium in the infarcted area and to evaluate the hemodynamic significance of the residual luminal narrowing. Myocardial perfusion imaging can be useful to decide on surgical versus conservative treatment of these patients.