[Functional scintigraphy of the heart: correlations with cardiological parameters]

According to Zierler's theoretical deduction time activity curves obtained from different parts of the central circulation after injection of a bolus of radioactivity are dependent on the volume and the flow. We tried to prove this by experiments and checked simultaneously the quality of the method developed by us using a Gamma Camera and a computer. We correlated the peak to peak time from the right to the left ventricle and the mean transit time of the left ventricle with the cardiac index and the enddiastolic volume of the left ventricle in patients with valvular heart disease. For this purpose patients were selected in whom either the cardiac index or the enddiastolic volume of the left ventricle were in the normal range. Under these conditions there was a highly significant correlation between these parameters. Moreover the mean pressure of the pulmonary artery and the mean pulmonary wedge pressure correlated significantly with the peak to peak time from the right ventricle to pulmonary artery. This may be explained by the correlation between the volume of the pulmonary vascular system and its pressures. As expected, there was no correlation between the time parameters from the nuclear medicine method and the enddiastolic pressure of the left ventricle in patients with valvular heart disease. The results are in good agreement with the diagnostic accuracy of the method in recognizing valvular heart disease as well as with the correlation between the hemodynamic stage in valvular heart disease and the change of the time parameters of the time activity curves.