Myocardial perfusion imaging in the elderly: a review.
Coronary artery disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly population. As a result of ageing of the population and better medical, interventional and surgical treatment of patients with coronary artery disease, more and more elderly patients are referred to the cardiology department for diagnostic work-up. Stress testing, in combination with myocardial perfusion imaging, is routinely used in elderly patients, a population in which the diagnosis of significant coronary artery disease is often challenging because of atypical symptomatology. Since the introduction of technetium-99m ligands for myocardial perfusion imaging, it is possible to perform electrocardiogram-gated perfusion imaging. This not only improves the specificity of the test for coronary artery disease detection, but also enables the simultaneous assessment of left ventricular functional parameters. This article briefly overviews the possible stress modalities, diagnostic accuracy and prognostic value of myocardial perfusion imaging in elderly patients.
De Winter
Olivier
O
Nuclear Medicine Division, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. olivier.dewinter@UGent.be
Van de Veire
Nico
N
Gemmel
Filip
F
Goethals
Ingeborg
I
De Sutter
Johan
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology