Myocardial scintigraphy using a fatty acid analogue detects coronary artery disease in hemodialysis patients

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease contributes significantly to mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using an iodinated fatty acid analogue, iodine-123-methyl iodophenylpentadecanoic acid (123I-BMIPP), can assess fatty acid metabolism in the myocardium. We investigated the ability of 123I-BMIPP SPECT to detect coronary artery disease in hemodialysis patients compared with 201thallium chloride (201Tl) SPECT. METHODS: We prospectively studied 130 ESRD patients undergoing hemodialysis for a mean of 88.6 months (male/female, 77/53; mean age, 63.8 years). Dual SPECT using 123I-BMIPP and 201Tl was performed, followed by coronary angiography. SPECT findings were graded in 17 segments on a five-point scale (0, normal uptake; 4, none) and assessed as a summed score. RESULTS: By coronary angiography, 71.5% of patients (93/130) had significant coronary stenosis (> or =75%), and five patients showed coronary spasm without coronary stenosis. When a BMIPP summed score of 6 or more was defined as abnormal, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detecting coronary artery disease by BMIPP SPECT were 98.0%, 65.6%, and 90.0%, respectively; in contrast, these parameters for detecting coronary artery disease by Tl SPECT were 84.7%, 46.9%, and 75.0%, respectively, when a Tl summed score of 1 or more was defined as abnormal. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, the area under the curve was 0.895 in BMIPP and 0.727 in Tl SPECT, respectively. CONCLUSION: Resting BMIPP SPECT is superior to Tl SPECT for detecting coronary lesions, and provides safe screening for coronary artery disease among maintenance hemodialysis patients.