Functional imaging of peripheral vascular disease: a comparison between exercise whole-body thallium perfusion imaging and contrast arteriography.

Abstract

Whole-body thallium scintigraphy was used to study leg muscle perfusion in 12 healthy individuals and 31 patients with peripheral vascular disease. Subjects were scanned immediately after exercise and 4 hr later. Buttock, thigh and calf perfusion were measured in terms of fractional uptake relative to whole-body activity, percent change in fractional uptake over 4 hr and interextremity symmetry ratios. The results were compared to contrast arteriography on a region by region basis. The overall sensitivity and specificity of thallium scintigraphy were 80% and 73%, respectively. The results suggest that thallium scintigraphy may provide useful information about the hemodynamic significance of noncritical anatomic lesions.