Can Nuclear Medicine Technologists Assess Whether a Myocardial Perfusion Rest Study Is Required?
Both stress and rest imaging are usually performed to diagnose ischemia or infarction in the left ventricle. If the stress study is performed first and the images indicate normal findings, it might be unnecessary to perform the rest study. The current study determines whether nuclear medicine technologists can assess the necessity of a rest study. Methods: The results of gated SPECT performed using a 2-d nongated stress and gated rest 99mTc-sestamibi protocol for 532 consecutive patients were studied. Myocardial perfusion imaging was performed for diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD) in 421 patients and for managing known CAD in 107 patients; 4 patients were examined for other reasons. Seventy-nine patients had previous myocardial infarction. Visual interpretation by 1 experienced physician at the time of clinical reporting was used as the gold standard for determining the scintigraphic presence of myocardial infarction or ischemia; rest, stress, and gated rest images and clinical
