View article

Positron emission tomography (PET) can be used with nitrogen-13–ammonia (¹³NH₃) to estimate regional myocardial blood flow, and with fluorine-18–deoxyglucose (¹⁸FDG) to measure exogenous glucose uptake by the myocardium. We used PET to predict whether preoperative abnormalities in left ventricular wall motion in 17 patients who underwent coronary-artery bypass surgery were reversible. The abnormalities were quantified by radionuclide or contrast angiography or both, before and after grafting. PET images were obtained preoperatively. Abnormal wall motion in regions in which PET images showed preserved glucose uptake was predicted to be reversible, whereas abnormal motion in regions with depressed glucose uptake was predicted to be irreversible. According to these criteria, abnormal contraction in 35 of 41 segments was correctly predicted to be reversible (85 percent predictive accuracy …