Prognostic value of an increased in flourine-18 deoxyglucose uptake in patients with myocardial infarction: Comparision with stress thallium imaging

Abstract Objectives . This study was undertaken to evaluate the prognostic value of an increase in fluorine (F)-18 deoxyglucose uptake compared wilh clinical, angiographic and stress thallium findings in patients with myocardial infarction. Background . Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using F-18 deoxyglucose has been applied to assess tissue viability in patients with coronary artery disease. We hypothesized that patients with a myocardial segment with augmented F-18 deoxyglucose uptake are at high risk for a future cardiac event. Methods . One hundred fifty-eight consecutive patients with myocardial infarction referred for F-18 deoxyglucose PET and stress thallium scans were studied. Follow-up was obtained in 84 patients at a mean interval of 23 months to investigate prognostic implications of radionuclide studies. Results . Seventeen patients had a cardiac event during the follow-up interval. Univariate analysis showed that an increase in F-18 deosyglucose uptake was the best predictor of a future cardiac event (p = 0.0006), followed by the number of stenosed vessels (p = 0.008). In the multivariate analysis, when an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake was entered into the model, only angiographic variables had an independent value, whereas no other radionuclide variables showed value. Among patients who did not show redistribution, a future cardiac event was observed more often in patients with than in those without an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake (p Conclusions . Thus, an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake seemed to be the best predictor of a future cardiac event among all clinical, angiographic and redionuclide variables in this study of stable patients with myocardial infarction. Even when a stress thallium-201 scan does not show redistribution, those patients who have an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake in a PET study may be at risk for a future cardiac event, and these patients may need aggressive treatment to prevent a future cardiac event.