Cardiac Perfusion Scan: What To Think About

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What To Think About

• Stress testing using medicine may be done instead of exercise stress testing for older adults and people with conditions that may make exercise difficult, such as those who are obese or those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), peripheral arterial disease, spinal cord injury, arthritis, or multiple sclerosis.
• A cardiac perfusion scan is a less invasive method than cardiac catheterization and angiography for determining whether a person with moderate risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) has the disease. For more information, see the medical tests Angiogram and Cardiac Catheterization.
• Cardiac perfusion scans cannot distinguish an area of old injury (scar tissue) from a newer injury caused by a recent heart attack.
• A normal result can help reassure a person with unexplained chest pain and an abnormal stress electrocardiogram that there is not significant coronary artery disease.
• A few small areas of abnormal tracer absorption may mean that only small areas of the heart muscle are not getting enough blood flow. In this case, treatment with medicine may be an option.
• A cardiac perfusion scan is often the first test done in younger women (when the cause of chest pain is uncertain) after the medical history and physical examination. This is because a simple stress electrocardiogram is less accurate in younger women.
• Some cardiologists believe that a stress echocardiogram provides information similar to a cardiac perfusion scan. But a cardiac perfusion scan may provide better information than a stress echocardiogram about blood flow to the heart muscle. For more information, see the medical test Echocardiogram.
• If you have a health condition that prevents you from having an exercise scan, a resting scan may be done. Other tests also may be done to evaluate your heart. For more information, see the medical tests Cardiac Catheterization, Echocardiogram, Electrocardiogram, and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

Last updated:	December 24, 2007
Author:	Robin Parks, MS
Reviewed By:	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine, Stephen Fort, MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology
Editors:	Kathleen M. Ariss, MS, Michele Cronen