title: Radionuclide evaluation of left ventricular function in a distantly located intensive coronary care unit.
abstract: Regular evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function is important in assessing patients in an intensive coronary care unit (ICCU). An adapted first-transit (FT) technique was applied to 21 patients for calculation of LV ejection fraction (LVEF). In this method the radionuclide is administered directly into the right pulmonary artery through a Swan-Ganz catheter. High-quality LV images are obtained because of minimal activity in the right ventricle and left lung. Data were acquired on a distantly located on-line computer system to restrict equipment in the ICCU. LVEF from FT compared well with LVEF from gated blood pool studies (r = 0.91) but gave consistently lower values. The adapted FT method ensures improved counting statistics during LVEF determination and facilitates evaluation of LV wall motion in the ICCU patient.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D003325:Coronary Care Units; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006334:Heart Function Tests / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m; D013318:Stroke Volume; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m