Radionuclide evaluation of left ventricular function in a distantly located intensive coronary care unit

Regular evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function is important in assessing patients in an intensive coronary care unit (ICCU). An adapted first-transit (FT) technique was applied to 21 patients for calculation of LV ejection fraction (LVEF). In this method the radionuclide is administered directly into the right pulmonary artery through a Swan-Ganz catheter. High-quality LV images are obtained because of minimal activity in the right ventricle and left lung. Data were acquired on a distantly located on-line computer system to restrict equipment in the ICCU. LVEF from FT compared well with LVEF from gated blood pool studies (r = 0.91) but gave consistently lower values. The adapted FT method ensures improved counting statistics during LVEF determination and facilitates evaluation of LV wall motion in the ICCU patient.