[Usefulness of 123I-BMIPP myocardial scintigraphy for evaluation of the left ventricular function in patients with chronic heart failure].

We examined the relationship between free fatty acid metabolism using 123I beta-methyl-iodophenyl-pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) and cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Cardiac free fatty acid metabolism was evaluated by the heart to mediastinum ratio (H/M), the heart to lung ratio (H/Lu), the heart to liver ratio (H/Li) and the myocardial uptake ratio (MUR) obtained from the planar imaging. Cardiac function was evaluated by the percent of fractional shortening (%FS) and the amount of left ventricular mass (LV mass) calculated with echocardiography. The study included 34 male and 14 female subjects of CHF with mean age of 61 +/- 9 years; dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM): n = 17, ischemic heart disease (IHD): n = 16, valvular disease: n = 5, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: n = 4, hypertension: n = 4, amyloidosis: n = 2. The correlations between indices of BMIPP uptake and those of echocardiography were as follows: H/M vs. %FS (r = 0.67, p < 0.01), H/Lu vs. %FS (r = 0.49, p < 0.01), H/Li vs. %FS (r = 0.12, p = 0.42), MUR vs. %FS (r = 0.03, p = 0.86) and MUR/LV mass vs. %FS (r = 0.59, p < 0.01). The correlation coefficient between H/M and MUR/LV mass in patients with IHD was higher than that in patients with DCM. In conclusion, BMIPP, in particular, is a useful tool for evaluating cardiac function in patients with CHF.