Prognostic Value of Low Irradiation Cardiac Stress Perfusion Scans

Stress myocardial perfusion scintigraphy is a reference examination for the detection and monitoring of coronary patients, and this examination has already been the subject of multiple validation studies, including for the stratification of the prognosis of these patients, information that can usefully guide therapeutic choices (medical treatment, myocardial revascularization, ...). The arrival of new solid-state cameras has been a real technological leap for this examination, making it possible to significantly improve the quality of the images and also to drastically reduce the activities of injected radiopharmaceuticals and thus the exposure of patients and staff to ionizing radiation. Today, this reduction in the activity of injected radiopharmaceuticals is taking place in a growing number of nuclear medicine departments. The injected activities are reduced up to a third of those injected in the past (this is indeed the case in the population we propose to study).

However, the value of the prognostic stratification obtained with stress myocardial perfusion scans recorded with low activity on semiconductor cameras is not yet known. In particular, the implications are unknown in terms of the risk of death of the different parameters studied (normal or abnormal examination, extent of myocardial ischemia and infarction sequelae, impact on left ventricular function in post-stress and resting states, etc.).