A miniature cadmium telluride detector module for continuous monitoring of left-ventricular function

The authors describe a miniature cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector module for continuous monitoring of ventricular function using an equilibrium radionuclide blood-pool label. The detector and collimator are small, light, and suitable for direct attachment to the chest wall. Clinical studies in 18 patients using a prototype system demonstrated reasonably good correlation with left-ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF) determined by first-pass studies performed with a multicrystal scintillation camera (r = 0.74) and gated equilibrium studies performed with a computerized sodium iodide (Nal) probe (r = 0.76). The CdTe device may prove to be useful in patients in intensive and coronary care units as well as in ambulatory patients.