Frequency and severity of myocardial perfusion abnormalities using Tc-99m MIBI SPECT in cardiac syndrome X

Mohsen Saghari¹ , Majid Assadi¹ , Mohammad Eftekhari¹ , Mohammad Yaghoubi² , Armaghan Fard-Esfahani¹ , Jan-Mohammad Malekzadeh² , Babak Fallhi Sichani¹ , Davood Beiki¹ and Abbas Takavar¹

¹Research Institute for Nuclear Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Ave. 14114, Tehran, Iran

²Department of Cardiology, Shariati Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave. 14114, Tehran, Iran

author email corresponding author email

BMC Nuclear Medicine 2006, 6:1doi:10.1186/1471-2385-6-1


Published:	17 February 2006

Abstract

Background

Cardiac syndrome X is defined by a typical angina pectoris with normal or near normal (stenosis <40%) coronary angiogram with or without electrocardiogram (ECG) change or atypical angina pectoris with normal or near normal coronary angiogram plus a positive none-invasive test (exercise tolerance test or myocardial perfusion scan) with or without ECG change. Studies with myocardial perfusion imaging on this syndrome have indicated some abnormal perfusion scan. We evaluated the role of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and also the severity and extent of perfusion abnormality using Tc-99m MIBI Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) in these patients.

Methods

The study group consisted of 36 patients with cardiac syndrome X. The semiquantitative perfusion analysis was performed using exercise Tc-99m MIBI SPECT. The MPI results were analyzed by the number, location and severity of perfusion defects.

Results

Abnormal perfusion defects were detected in 13 (36.10%) cases, while the remaining 23 (63.90%) had normal cardiac imaging. Five of 13 (38.4%) abnormal studies showed multiple perfusion defects. The defects were localized in the apex in 3, apical segments in 4, midventricular segments in 12 and basal segments in 6 cases. Fourteen (56%) of all abnormal segments revealed mild, 7(28%) moderate and 4 (16%) severe reduction of tracer uptake. No fixed defects were identified. The vessel territories were approximately the same in all subjects. The Exercise treadmill test (ETT) was positive in 25(69%) and negative in 11(30%) patients. There was no consistent pattern as related to the extent of MPI defects or exercise test results.

Conclusion

Our study suggests that multiple perfusion abnormalities with different levels of severity are common in cardiac syndrome X, with more than 30 % of these patients having at least one abnormal perfusion segment. Our findings suggest that in these patients microvascular angina is probably more common than is generally believed.