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Netherlands Heart Journal logoLink to Netherlands Heart Journal
. 2003 Mar;11(3):113–117.

Clinical significance of reverse redistribution on technetium-99m tetrofosmin single-photon emission computed tomography: an 18-month follow-up study

BM Swinkels, TEH Hooghoudt, EAJM Schoenmakers, CG Zinder, TM de Boo, FWA Verheugt
PMCID: PMC2499887  PMID: 25696192

Abstract

Background

The clinical and prognostic significance of reverse redistribution on technetium-99m (99mTc) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is unclear.

Objectives

To determine outcomes of chest pain patients showing reverse redistribution after 99mTc tetrofosmin SPECT versus SPECT showing no reverse redistribution.

Methods

Patient outcomes (death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty) within 18 months after 99mTc tetrofosmin SPECT were determined in two populations of ambulatory patients, most of whom had been evaluated because of chest pain: a population of 57 patients whose SPECT images showed reverse redistribution without reversible or fixed defects, versus a control population of 98 patients whose SPECT images were normal (no reverse redistribution, no reversible defects, no fixed defects).

Results

Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that the population of patients with reverse redistribution did not have a worse 18-month outcome in comparison with the control population of patients without reverse redistribution (3.5% versus 9.2%, respectively; p=0.15 corrected for age and gender).

Conclusion

Reverse redistribution on 99mTc tetrofosmin SPECT does not appear to be an unfavourable prognostic factor in ambulatory chest pain patients.

Keywords: reverse redistribution, scintigraphy, prognosis

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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