[Use of radionuclide isotopes by cardiologists. Results of a French survey. Study group: "Nuclear Cardiology" of the French Society of Cardiology and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Biophysics].

The authors report the results of an enquiry carried out amongst French cardiologists to determine their opinion about radionuclide investigations in cardiological practice. Of the 5,050 cardiologists contacted, 1,431 (28.3%) replied. The cardiologists were attracted by the non-invasive nature (84%) of radionuclide techniques and their complementarity with other methods of investigation (74%) but regretted their cost (55%), their lick of availability in emergencies (35%) and, in general, their difficult of access (30%). Only 38% of the cardiologists who replied used radionuclide investigation on an everyday basis, this being impossible for some because of the distance to the nearest centre with these facilities (on average 32 km but exceeding 50 km in 29% of cases, and the delay before obtaining an appointment (average 13 days) which was often excessive, especially for myocardial scintigraphy (thallium or equivalent). Each cardiologist prescribed an average of 5 myocardial scintigraphies, 3 pulmonary scintigraphies and 2 radioisotopic ventriculography per month. These results seem to be an overestimation; in fact, radionuclide investigations are relatively underemployed, probably more because of the factors cited above than because of lack interest or quality, these latter two points being generally judged positively by the majority of cardiologists. Cardiologists require more from the conclusions of the investigation than a simple description of the images obtained. As with all other investigations that they perform themselves, the interpretation of the results must take the clinical context into consideration and form part of the diagnostic and therapeutic management of the patient.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)