title: Myocardial perfusion in Friedreich's ataxia: assessment by dipyridamole thallium-201 imaging.
abstract: In order to assess myocardial perfusion in patients with Friedreich's ataxia, we carried out dipyridamole-thallium imaging in 13 cardiologically asymptomatic patients (aged 16 to 39; mean age 24) with various degrees of left ventricular hypertrophy; all showed electrocardiographic ST and/or T wave abnormalities before scintigraphy. After dosing with dipyridamole-201 thallium, we found: a completely reversible perfusion defect in the apical and a partially reversible defect in the posterolateral wall of the left ventricle in 1 case; a partially reversible perfusion defect in the anterior and posterior walls of the left ventricle in 1 case; and a persistent anterolateral perfusion defect in 1 case. The remaining 10 patients showed no scintigraphic abnormalities. The fact that only 1 of our patients showed a completely reversible perfusion defect, possibly consistent with regional myocardial ischemia, suggests that ischemia does not play a major role in the pathogenesis of the cardiac involvement in Friedreich's ataxia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, San Carlo Hospital, Milan.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casazza
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Palagi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Picozzi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morpurgo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004176:Dipyridamole; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D005621:Friedreich Ataxia / Q000150:complications*; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes
chemical_list: D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D004176:Dipyridamole