[The radionuclide diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy: a new approach to assessing myocardial perfusion function by 201Tl scintigraphic data at rest and during the performance of the dipyridamole test].

A method for quantitative determination of the percentage of left ventricular myocardial 201Tl isotope uptake at rest and during dipyridamole test was first used in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease complicated by circulatory insufficiency or chronic myocarditis. This method makes it possible to judge the level of myocardial blood flow and perfusion reserve in these diseases. The most common differences were found between patients with coronary heart disease and those with chronic myocarditis. The patients with chronic myocarditis exhibited the greatest sizes of perfusion defects, highest values of 201Tl uptake at rest and a lower myocardial perfusion reserve during dipyridamole test. In response to exercise, most patients with chronic myocarditis had diminished perfusion defects, whereas those with coronary heart disease displayed increased defects. The myocardial perfusion was varied in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Some patients had a scintigraphic pattern close to that in patients with chronic myocarditis and others had a pattern identical to that in patients with coronary heart disease.