Scintigraphic assessment of left ventricular aneurysms

Thirty-five patients with coronary artery disease and possible left ventricular aneurysm underwent routine clinical examination, gated cardiac blood pool scintigraphy, and radionuclide cineangiography. Thirty-three of the 35 patients had coronary angiography and contrast left ventriculography. Sixteen patients had segmental left ventricular akinesia or dyskinesia, and 17 demonstrated left ventricular hypokinesis on contrast ventriculograms. Two patients had aneurysm confirmed at autopsy. Routine clinical evaluation was not sufficient to separate patients with aneurysm from those with hypokinesis. Radionuclide cineangiography correctly identified all cases of aneurysm or hypokinesis. The cinescintigraphic technique was preferable to the gated cardiac blood pool technique for qualitatively assessing and classifying abnormal ventricular wall motion. There was good correlation of the left ventricular ejection fraction by contrast ventriculograms and gated scintigrams in patients with either aneurysm or hypokinesis.