Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Evaluation by gated cardiac blood pool scanning

Abstract

The gated radionuclide cardiac blood pool scan (GCS) can be used to visualize the entire profile of the interventricular septum and left ventricular contraction. Twenty-two patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, nine with valvular aortic stenosis and six normals, underwent echocardiography and GCS. All patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy had asymmetric septal hypertrophy and 14 of 22 had resting systolic anterior motion of the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve on echocardiogram. In eight patients with aortic stenosis with adequate echocardiograms, two had asymmetric septal hypertrophy and none had systolic anterior motion. The GCS demonstrated disproportionate upper septal thickening in 11; septal flattening in 16; cavity obliteration in 17; and a filling defect in the region of the left ventricular outflow tract in 16 of the 22 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In the nine patients with valvular aortic stenosis, two demonstrated septal flattening, two cavity obliteration, two an outflow tract defect, and none disproportionate upper septal thickening. Both patients with cavity obliteration demonstrated asymmetric septal hypertrophy on echocardiogram. One normal control patient had septal flattening. Thus the gated cardiac blood pool scan provides an atraumatic technique for the evaluation of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which complements the echocardiogram.