Introduction : The study was designed to clarify the role of ¹²³I-β-methyl-iodophenylpentadecanoic acid (123I-BMIPP) in the evaluation of myocardial fatty acid metabolism in patients with stable angina pectoris (AP) before and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Material and methods : Ten controls (mean age: 70.4 ±10.5 years) and 12 patients with AP (mean age: 67.4 ±11.6 years) and single vessel coronary artery disease participated in the radionuclide cardiac study. Scintigraphic images were acquired at 30 min and at 4 h after ¹²³I-BMIPP injection to determine early and delayed BMIPP uptake, respectively. The heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratio and the washout rate (WR) were calculated from the planar images. All patients underwent scintigraphy one day before PCI and again 1 month after successful PCI.
Results : No significant differences in the early or delayed H/M ratios were observed between the patients and the controls before PCI (early: 2.70 ±0.36 vs. 2.73 ±0.57; delayed: 2.26 ±0.33 vs. 2.40 ±0.43; p > 0.2 for both). The early and delayed H/M ratios remained unchanged with the comparison with before PCI (early: 2.72 ±0.27, delayed: 2.23 ±0.22; p > 0.2 for both). The global WR before PCI was significantly higher in the patients than in the control group (36.7 ±9.3%, vs. 28.1 ±8.2%, p = 0.02). However, the WR after PCI did not significantly differ between the patients and the controls (34.3 ±7.8% vs. 28.1 ±8.2%, p = 0.1).
Conclusions : These data may suggest that the WR of ¹²³I-BMIPP determined from the planar images enhances the presence of myocardial ischaemia.