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Atrial pacing and thallium 201 scintigraphy: combined use for diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

To evaluate the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), atrial pacing and thallium 201 scintigraphy were performed in 36 patients with stable angina pectoris who were unable to perform an adequate exercise stress test. All patients underwent cardiac catheterization. Nine patients had previously undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. Significant CAD (one or more lesions greater than or equal to 50%) was present in 33 patients. Atrial pacing produced ischemic ST segment depression (greater than or equal to 1 mm) in 18 (55%) patients with CAD, and angina in 20 patients (61%). As the number of vessels with CAD increased, there was no significant change in the sensitivities of pacing-induced angina or ST segment depression for detecting CAD. In the 3 patients without CAD, ST segment depression occurred in 1 patient and angina in none. Thallium 201 scintigraphy demonstrated perfusion defects in 27 (82%) patients with CAD, with fixed defects seen in 13 studies (39%) and reversible defects in 15 (45%). In the 3 patients without CAD, no perfusion defects were seen. The thallium 201 scan successfully predicted the presence of CAD in patients with single-vessel disease but usually underestimated the number of vessels involved in patients with multivessel disease. Combined sensitivity of pacing-induced ST segment depression and an abnormal thallium 201 scan finding for detecting CAD was 91%. The authors conclude that combined atrial pacing and thallium 201 scintigraphy is a useful test for detecting CAD in patients unable to perform an adequate exercise stress test.

Aged↗

Atrial pacing with two-dimensional echocardiography for evaluation of chest pain: comparison with thallium 201 scintigraphy.

Atrial pacing was performed with two-dimensional (2-D) echocardiography and thallium 201 scintigraphy in 40 men with stable chest pain. Coronary angiography showed significant (one or more lesions greater than or equal to 50%) coronary artery disease (CAD) in 36 patients and no or insignificant CAD in 4. Two dimensional echocardiography showed a left ventricular wall motion abnormality (WMA) either at rest or with pacing in 28 (78%) patients with CAD, with 17 (47%) showing a new or worsened WMA with pacing. A thallium scan showing abnormality (reversible or fixed perfusion defect) was seen in 26 (72%) patients with CAD; 18 (50%) had a reversible defect. In all, 34 of the 36 patients with CAD (94%) had a WMA, a perfusion defect, or both (specificity 50%). Occurrence of both a WMA and a perfusion defect in individual segments ranged from 10 of 25 patients with septal abnormalities to 0 of 12 with abnormalities of the lateral segment. Sensitivity of 2-D echocardiography for identifying CAD in specific vessels was 81% for the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, 30% for the right coronary artery, and 20% for the circumflex artery (both p less than .001 compared with the LAD artery). Corresponding sensitivities for thallium 201 imaging were 54% (p less than .05 compared with 2-D echocardiography), 27%, and 8% (both p less than .05 compared with the LAD artery). When combined with atrial pacing, 2-D echocardiography and thallium 201 perfusion imaging are of similar value for diagnosing the presence of CAD in patients with stable chest pain. Two-dimensional echocardiography is superior to thallium 201 imaging for identifying the presence of significant CAD in the LAD artery, but both tests are limited in their ability to detect lesions of the right coronary or circumflex arteries.

Aged↗

Thallium induced changes in behavioral patterns: correlation with altered lipid peroxidation and lysosomal enzyme activity in brain regions of male rats.

The effects of exposures to low levels of heavy metals is a complex and serious problem. Thallium is a metal which produces behavioral sequelae in human poisoning and is potentially hazardous with low level exposures. A test battery is presented which utilizes biochemical and behavioral testing to assess the effects of low levels of thallium on central nervous system chemistry and function in rats. The doses of thallium used (4 and 8 mg/kg) produced no overt signs of behavioral toxicity but did produce dose-related increases in lipid peroxidation and activation of the lysosomal enzyme beta-galactosidase in selected brain regions. At these dose levels, thallium also selectively altered the patterns of behavior. The study suggests that the target regions of thallium in the brain include the cortex, the cerebellum and the brainstem. The dose-response relationships, found for certain pairs of behavioral acts, were correlated with biochemical changes in one or more brain regions.

Animals↗

Thallium toxicosis in a Pit Bull Terrier.

Thallotoxicosis is described in an adult Pit Bull Terrier. The dog exhibited anorexia, emesis, weakness, conscious proprioceptive deficits, and a hemorrhagic diarrhea before death. A severe, acute necrotizing enterocolitis was evident upon histological examination, as was a multifocal to coalescing pulmonary edema. Liver and kidney thallium concentrations were 18 and 26 ppm, respectively. The source of the thallium was determined to be thallium sulfate obtained by a person with the intent to harm family members. Although thallium has not been produced in the United States for 20 years, this report demonstrates the need to consider thallium toxicosis as a differential diagnosis for animals presenting with vague and mixed gastrointestinal and neurological signs.

Animals↗

Thallium-201 scintigraphy in the evaluation of graft dysfunction in lung transplantation. Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Lung Transplant Group.

The object of this study was to evaluate graft dysfunction utilizing thallium-201 scintigraphy in patients who had undergone lung transplantation. We studied 11 patients who had undergone single-lung transplantation and had 44 evaluations for suspected graft dysfunction. All evaluations included a lung thallium-201 scan and chest radiography. In addition, 42 transbronchial biopsies, 19 gallium-67 scans and 28 pulmonary function tests were obtained. Rejection was defined by histopathology and/or the response to an empirical pulse of methylprednisolone, while cultures of protected specimen brushes and blood with a positive chest radiograph were used to define infection. The sensitivity of thallium scintigraphy for diagnosing rejection and/or infection (94%) was higher than that for transbronchial biopsy (86%), gallium scintigraphy (47%), chest radiography (67%), or spirometry testing (30%). Specificity was 100% for thallium scintigraphy and transbronchial biopsy, as compared to chest radiography and spirometry, which were 75 and 80% respectively. This study indicated that thallium-201 scintigraphy is useful for screening lung transplant recipients for episodes of acute rejection and/or infection. A positive scan is confirmation of graft parenchymal dysfunction and may then be followed by empirical treatment or bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy and culture to differentiate rejection and infection.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

Comparison of resting beta-methyl-iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) and thallium-201 tomography using quantitative polar maps in patients with unstable angina.

We compared resting beta-methyl-iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) tomography with resting thallium-201 tomography in 28 patients with unstable angina. Tracer distribution was displayed on a polar map and compared with a normal standard deviation map obtained from a group of 12 normal subjects. The extent scores and severity scores obtained by BMIPP were significantly greater than those obtained by thallium-201. Confirmation by coronary angiography revealed the sensitivity of the methods in identifying patients to be 89% for BMIPP and 54% for thallium-201. There were significant differences between BMIPP and thallium-201 in the sensitivities of detecting postischemic jeopardized myocardium in the area supplied by the right coronary artery (RCA; 53% vs 18%, p < 0.05), left circumflex artery (LCX; 78% vs 39%, p < 0.025) and all 3 vessels combined (71% vs 35%, p < 0.001) but no significant differences in specificity (RCA: 82% vs 64%; LCX: 70% vs 90%; and total 3 vessels combined: 75% vs 79%). In conclusion, resting BMIPP tomography is more sensitive than resting thallium-201 tomography in detecting postischemic myocardial damage in patients with unstable angina.

Angina, Unstable↗

Diagnostic and prognostic value of myocardial scintigraphy with thallium-201 and gallium-67 in cardiac sarcoidosis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine the diagnostic and prognostic value of myocardial scintigraphy using thallium-201 and gallium-67 in cardiac sarcoidosis. PATIENTS: Twenty-five patients with sarcoidosis. METHODS: All patients underwent myocardial thallium-201 scintigraphy. Six patients with myocardial thallium-201 defects were classified into group A and another 19 without defects were classified into group B. Between group A and B, we compared the results of other noninvasive examinations, including standard 12-lead ECG, 24 h ambulatory ECG, chest radiography, measurements of serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and lysozyme levels, and gallium-67 scintigraphy. RESULTS: Proportions of subjects who had varying degrees of heart block, severe ventricular arrhythmias (more than or equal to third grade of Lown's classification), and high levels of serum ACE and lysozyme levels were not different between these two groups (p > 0.05). Although an enlarged cardiothoracic ratio was more frequent in group A (p < 0.05), bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy was more frequent in group B (p < 0.01). Four patients of group A and 15 of group B underwent gallium-67 scintigraphy. Although no subjects of group B had myocardial uptake of gallium-67, two of four group A patients showed cardiac uptake. These four group A patients were treated with corticosteroids. The therapy provided clinical and scintigraphic improvement in two patients with myocardial gallium-67 uptake, although it did no improvement in the other two patients without gallium-67 uptake. CONCLUSIONS: When cardiac sarcoidosis was diagnosed according to myocardial thallium-201 defects, other noninvasive examinations were not useful to detect this disease. However, gallium-67 uptake may predict the efficacy of corticosteroids. Thus, the combination of thallium-201 and gallium-67 scintigraphy may be useful not only in diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis but also in prediction of effects of corticosteroids.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

A simple and rapid spectrophotometric determination of thallium(III) with trifluoperazine hydrochloride.

A simple, sensitive and rapid spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of thallium(III) using trifluoperazine hydrochloride (TFPH). The method is based on the oxidation of TFPH by thallium(III) in a phosphoric acid medium to form a red-colored radical cation with an absorption maximum at 505 nm. Beer's law is valid over the concentration range of 0.5 - 6.5 microg ml(-1) of thallium(III). The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity of the color system are 2.14 x 10(4) l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.0095 microg cm(-2), respectively. The optimum reaction conditions and other analytical parameters were evaluated. The tolerance limit of the method towards various ions usually associated with thallium has been studied. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of thallium in alloys, minerals, standard reference material, water, and urine samples.

Alloys↗

Hemodynamic significance of increased lung uptake of thallium-201.

To determine the hemodynamic significance of increased lung thallium-201 uptake, resting thallium images in 23 normal subjects and 90 patients with various cardiac diseases were reviewed. Significant thallium uptake in the lung was observed in 60 cases and was especially frequently in mitral valvular disease (19 of 19 cases) and in myocardial infarction (25 of 37 cases). Chest radiographs of most of these patients showed pulmonary congestion or edema (50 or 69 cases). Pulmonary wedge pressure was measured in 25 of these patients and was significantly higher than in those of normal thallium uptake in the lung. Assessment of lung thallium uptake at the time of myocardial imaging can be used as a noninvasive means for evaluation of pulmonary venous hypertension.

Adolescent↗

A probable case of chronic occupational thallium poisoning in a glass factory.

A male worker who handled thallium-containing raw material for glass manufacturing over a period of four years complained of alopecia, abdominal pain, diarrhea and tingling in the four extremities. Neurological examination of this patient revealed signs of mild glove-stocking-type polyneuropathy. Lower sensory nerve conduction velocity of the median nerve in the right hand than in the left hand suggested that conduction function in the dominant hand was reduced. The thallium content of the hair, as determined by an ICP-MS method, was 20 ng/g for the patient and 576 ng/g for his successor in the time of 32 months and 13 months, respectively, after they had ceased their glass production work. Those levels of thallium exposure were considered high, compared with the control levels so far reported. The clinical course of signs and symptoms, neurophysiological findings and thallium content of hair suggested that the patient suffered from chronic poisoning due to occupational exposure to thallium-containing dust.

Abdominal Pain↗

Acute thallium poisoning: an evaluation of different forms of treatment.

Hemodialysis, forced potassium diuresis, chelating agents per os, and Dithiocarb given intravenously during short periods of time were used for the treatment of acute thallium poisoning (ingestion of 750 mg of thallium sulfate), and the effectiveness of these different therapeutic procedures was analyzed. Chelating agents per os (Prussian blue, Dithiocarb, and Dithiozone) were ineffective in our patient, since fecal excretion of thallium was very low and unmodified by them. Forced potassium diuresis and hemodialysis were very useful therapeutic measures, especially in the first 12 days following ingestion. Dithiocarb perfusion seems to be the most effective method for enhancing urinary thallium excretion. This method might be most useful in the treatment of thallium poisoning if its deleterious effects could be eliminated.

Acute Disease↗

Exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy in the diagnosis and prognosis of coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the discriminant accuracy of exercise thallium-201 myocardial perfusion scintigraphy for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. DATA IDENTIFICATION: A survey of the National Library of Medicine MEDLINE database. STUDY SELECTION: The key medical subject headings used were coronary disease, myocardial infarction, radionuclide imaging, and thallium. A total of 122 retrieved studies were considered relevant and were reviewed in depth. DATA EXTRACTION: Only studies reporting both the sensitivity and specificity of thallium scintigraphy were analyzed. RESULTS: Discriminant accuracy for diagnosis and prognosis was summarized in terms of pooled sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise thallium scintigraphy is useful in the noninvasive diagnosis of coronary artery disease, especially in patients with abnormal resting electrocardiograms, restricted exercise tolerance, and intermediate probability of having disease at the time of testing as well as of defining the prognosis of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease, especially in those with previous myocardial infarction. Because of various shortcomings in the published record, however, the marginal discriminant accuracy and cost effectiveness of thallium scintigraphy compared with conventional clinical assessment and exercise electrocardiography remain controversial.

Coronary Disease↗

Myocardial viability assessment after acute myocardial infarction: low-dose dobutamine echocardiography versus rest-redistribution thallium-201 SPECT.

BACKGROUND: The presence of tissue viability is of great importance in the prognostic work-up of patients recovering from acute myocardial infarction. However, uncertainty still exists concerning the optimal tool for its assessment. The present study was undertaken in order to compare low-dose dobutamine echocardiography and rest-redistribution thallium SPECT for predicting late improvement of regional left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction. METHODS: Fifteen patients undergoing coronary angiography, low-dose dobutamine echocardiography and rest-redistribution thallium SPECT after thrombolyzed anterior acute myocardial infarction were studied. A 3 month follow-up echocardiogram was performed in all patients and 9 underwent coronary revascularization. RESULTS: A significant (> or = 70%) residual stenosis of the infarct-related artery was present in 14 patients, whilst a total occlusion was observed in 1. At 3 month follow-up, 41% of the dyssynergic segments improved. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for late wall motion improvement was 61, 89 and 77% for low-dose dobutamine echocardiography and, respectively, 76, 45 and 58% for rest-redistribution thallium SPECT. Tissue viability was detected in 65 and 31% of dyssynergic segments by rest-redistribution thallium SPECT and low-dose dobutamine echocardiography, respectively (p < 0.001). The agreement between the two techniques was 48%. CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose dobutamine echocardiography is more accurate than rest-redistribution thallium SPECT for predicting 3 month wall motion improvement in patients with acute anterior myocardial infarction, mainly due to its significantly better specificity.

Adult↗

Viable myocardium identified by reinjection thallium-201 imaging: comparison with regional wall motion and metabolic activity on FDG-PET.

Reinjection thallium-201 scans were performed in 68 patients with coronary artery disease after the routine stress-delayed scans for more accurate identification of new fill-in. Following the stress and 3 hour delayed thallium-201 SPECT scans, 40 MBq (1.1 mCi) was injected at rest, and 10 min later, the reinjection SPECT scan was obtained. To determine whether the reinjection method can aid in identifying ischemic but viable myocardium, the thallium-201 findings were compared with regional wall motion on radionuclide ventriculography in 61 patients and with metabolic activity on positron emission tomography (PET) using F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in 18 patients. The reinjection scan identified new fill-in which had not been shown on the stress-delayed scans in 6 of the 22 patients (27%) or in 29 of the 105 segments (28%). Regional wall motion was preserved more in the segments that exhibited new fill-in after reinjection (wall motion score = 1.64 +/- 1.29) than in those without new fill-in (score = 2.72 +/- 1.04) (p < 0.01). In the comparative study with FDG-PET, persistent FDG uptake was observed in all segments with new fill-in (20/20 segments: 100%); whereas, it was seen in only 7 of the 28 segments (25%) without new fill-in after reinjection (p < 0.05). We concluded that the segments having new fill-in after reinjection may represent ischemic but viable myocardium. Thus, the reinjection thallium-201 scan should be performed to identify ischemic myocardium which occasionally cannot be detected by the routine stress-delayed thallium-201 scans.

Adult↗

[Thallium poisoning which stimulated systemic lupus erythematosus in a child].

We report the case of a preschool boy who, without knowledge of his relatives, ingested thallium sulfate in a dose calculated in 30 mg/kg. He presented a systemic lupus erythematosus-like syndrome and only further alopecia oriented the diagnosis of thallium toxicosis; thallium blood levels were; 37.2 micrograms/dl and in urine: 2330 micrograms/L. Treatment with the chelating agent D. penicillamine was effective, the clinical picture disappeared and the decrease of the thallium levels was observed. Thallium intoxication should be considered in the differential diagnosis of connective tissue disease as the above mentioned.

Alopecia↗

[Usefulness and limitations of stress 201-thallium myocardial imaging in patients with Kawasaki disease].

Thallium-201 myocardial imaging was performed in 150 patients with a history of Kawasaki disease, aged 6 months to 16 years old. Forty-five patients were studied with ergometer exercise and 105 patients had dipyridamole administration. The findings of thallium imaging were compared with those of coronary angiography. Seventy-two cases with severe coronary stenosis (over 75%) were classified in 3 groups; 13 with the left anterior descending artery lesion, 31 with only the right coronary artery lesion and 28 with multi-vessel involvement. In 72 cases with severe coronary stenosis, the sensitivity of thallium imaging for detecting coronary stenotic lesions was 85%, 74% and 67% in the 3 groups, respectively. In 78 cases without severe coronary stenosis, 5 cases (6%) had persistent perfusion defects on thallium imaging, 3 of which were associated with dyskinesis of the left ventricle documented by cineangiography. They were considered to have damaged myocardium probably due to peripheral myocardial infarction or myocarditic problems. Thallium-201 myocardial imaging was proved to be a useful method to detect coronary stenosis, however its sensitivity for detecting lesions of the right coronary artery or multi-vessels was relatively low. This may be attributable to a significantly higher incidence of segmental stenosis (recanalization) with sufficient coronary flow and multiple coronary collateral vessels in patients with such lesions.

Adolescent↗

Discordance of visual and quantitative analysis regarding false negative and false positive test results in thallium-201 myocardial perfusion scintigraphy.

Visual assessment and quantitative analysis of exercise thallium-201 myocardial perfusion scintigraphy was performed in 203 consecutive patients who underwent coronary arteriographic studies to identify the factors associated with false negative and false positive studies. Also the discordance between visual and quantitative analysis was evaluated. One hundred sixty-two (80%) of these 203 patients had significant coronary artery disease (CAD), i.e. a luminal stenosis greater than or equal to 50%. Fifty-two (32%) of these 162 patients with documented CAD showed negative thallium results either by visual or quantitative analysis. When interpreted visually 36/162 (22%) of patients were judged as negative, and when analyzed quantitatively 41/162 (25%) of patients were judged as negative (ns). Of the total group of 52 patients with false negative visual and/or quantitative analysis test results, 27 (17%) showed discordance between these two methods. Of the 41 patients without significant CAD, 12 (29%) showed positive thallium findings. Visual interpretation was positive in 9/41 (22%) of patients without significant CAD, and quantitative analysis in 5/41 (12%) (ns). Of the total group of 12 patients with positive visual and/or quantitative analysis test results, 10 (24%) showed discordance between these two methods. Therefore, in the total group, 37 patients (18%) showed discordance between visual and quantitative analysis. It is concluded that 1) the sensitivity and the specificity of visual interpretation and quantitative analysis of thallium-201 exercise scintigraphy for detecting CAD is similar, and 2) that there is frequent discordance of visual interpretation and quantitative analysis in thallium-201 exercise scintigraphy.

Coronary Disease↗

[Exercise-induced thallium-201 myocardial perfusion defects in angina pectoris without significant coronary artery stenosis].

We performed exercise thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy in 32 patients with angina pectoris to study the incidence of perfusion defects, who had no significant organic stenosis on coronary angiography. None of them had myocardial infarction or cardiomyopathy. Thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy and 12-lead ECG recording were performed during supine bicycle ergometer exercise. Perfusion defects in thallium-201 scintigrams in SPECT images were assessed during visual analysis by two observers. In the coronary angiograms obtained during intravenous infusion of nitroglycerin, the luminal diameter of 75% stenosis or less in the AHA classification was regarded as an insignificant organic stenosis. Myocardial perfusion defects in the thallium-201 scintigrams were detected in eight (25%) of the 32 patients. Six of these eight patients had variant angina documented during spontaneous attacks with ST elevations in standard 12-lead ECGs. Perfusion defects were demonstrated at the inferior or inferoposterior regions in six patients, one of whom had concomitant anteroseptal defect. The defects were not always accompanied by chest pain. All but one patient demonstrating inferior or inferoposterior defects showed ST depression in leads II, III and aVF on their ECGs, corresponding to inferior wall ischemia. The exception was a case with right bundle branch block. Thus, 25% of the patients with angina pectoris, who had no evidence of significant organic stenosis on their coronary angiograms, exhibited exercise-induced perfusion defects in their thallium-201 scintigrams. Coronary spasms might have caused myocardial ischemia in these patients.

Adult↗