Combined evaluation of first-pass radionuclide angiography and equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. I. Results at rest.

The results of 203 patients who underwent first-pass radionuclide angiography (FP), as well as quantitative equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography (qERNV), were stored in a data base system and evaluated statistically. In patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) without previous myocardial infarction (MI), evaluation of global and regional ejection fraction (gEF, rEF) at rest revealed a poor sensitivity of 64% (Rest-qERNV) and 69% (Rest-FP), respectively. In patients with a history of one previous MI, the sensitivity of both methods was equivalent: FP 87% and qERNV 84%. In patients with several MIs, sensitivity was higher than 90%. Concerning localization of MI, remarkable differences between FP and qERNV were found. In posterior wall infarction, the FP sensitivity was 87% and qERNV only 67%, whereas in anterior wall infarction, the results were similar for both methods: 93% (FP) and 96% (qERNV), respectively. Since 30 degrees RAO camera position achieves the best visualization of the anterior and posterior wall, FP is superior to qERNV in the evaluation of posterior wall asynergies. In addition, qERNV often fails to discriminate anterior and posterior wall motion abnormalities.