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THALLIUM SCANS TOO SOON AFTER ANGIOPLASTY MAY BE MISLEADING.
Cardiologists should not be too quick to order an exercise thallium scan to check on the effectiveness of an angioplasty.
Investigators performed serial thallium scans over a six- month period on 43 patients who had had successful angioplasties. Exercise capacity improved within a few days after angioplasty; however, myocardial perfusion of the dilated coronary artery, as measured by thallium distribution, improved more slowly. Blinded interpretation of the scans lead to a diagnosis of ischemia on 12 of 43 scans taken a few days after angioplasty, but on none of the scans taken at later stages.
These results show that an abnormal scan immediately after angioplasty does not necessarily mean that the angioplasty has failed.
— THL
Published in Journal Watch General Medicine February 9, 1988
Citation(s):
Manyari D E; Knudtson M; Kloiber R; Roth D. Sequential thallium-201 myocardial perfusion studies after successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: delayed resolution of exercise-induced scintigraphic abnormalities. Circulation 1988 Jan 77 86-95.
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