[The significance of 201Tl/123I MIBG (metaiodobenzylguanidine) mismatched myocardial regions for predicting ventricular tachycardia in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy].

123I-MIBG (MIBG) regional defects in myocardial regions with preserved 201Tl (Tl) uptake have been observed in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). To evaluate whether the presence of Tl/MIBG mismatched regions is related to the occurrence of ventricular tachycardia (VT), we performed myocardial dual SPECT imaging with Tl (111 MBq) and MIBG (111 MBq) in 17 patients with DCM, 11 (Gp A) with and 6 (Gp B) without VT. Myocardial dual SPECT imaging was performed at 15 minutes after and 4 hours after the tracer injection. The regional tracer uptake was scored visually in 6 segments of the basal, middle, and apical short-axial images and in 2 apical segments of the midventricular vertical long-axial image by a four-point scoring system (0 = normal, 1 = moderate, 2 = severe and 3 = complete defect). Then, the severity of tracer maldistributions was assessed by the difference between total defect scores (TDSs) of Tl and MIBG (delta TDS). TDS was not different between Gps A and B in both Tl and MIBG images. However, delta TDS was larger in Gp A than in Gp B (13.5 +/- 6.5 vs. 5.8 +/- 3.0, p < 0.05). Also, the number of segments with the mismatched tracer uptake was larger in Gp A than in Gp B (12.5 +/- 3.0 vs. 8.3 +/- 1.5, p < 0.01). In the electrophysiologic study, we found that the fractionated area corresponded to the mismatched region in 3 of 5 patients in Gp A. These results suggest that regional sympathetic denervation is a possible factor which provocates VT, and myocardial dual SPECT imaging with Tl and MIBG is a useful method for predicting VT in patients with DCM.