Thallium-201 myocardial SPET in strictly defined syndrome X

We reviewed the exercise thallium-201 (201Tl) myocardial single photon emission tomography (SPET) results and clinical data of 28 patients, adhering to a strict definition of syndrome X. All of the patients had a normal resting left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and no cardiac abnormalities. The results of the exercise electrocardiography (ECG) studies were evaluated and compared with the results of 201Tl SPET. Of the 28 patients, only 3 (11%) had a normal 201Tl SPET scan and 25 (89%) had an abnormal 201Tl SPET scan. We found that a normal 201Tl SPET scan was rare when adhering to a strict definition of syndrome X, and the results of exercise ECG did not correlate well with the perfusion defects observed on the 201Tl SPET scan.