For Release: May 6, 1997
Contact: Michael J. Bernstein (703) 648-8910
Carolyn J. Loss (703) 684-8928; [email protected]
New Testing Method Makes it Easier to Diagnose Heart Attacks in the Emergency Room, Saves Money
A new use for a common test helps emergency room physicians rapidly identify patients in danger of having a heart attack, also saving money in the process, according to a Midwest study.
The test, known as GSPECT (ECG-gated single photon emission tomography), is usually administered to heart patients after they have been in the hospital two-three days, says Dr. Patrick Peller, lead study author and nuclear medicine physician at Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL. By administering the test while they are in the emergency room, physicians are able to quickly decide how to treat the patient, Dr. Peller said.
Results of the study were presented May 6 at the American Roentgen Ray Society's 97th Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.
Traditionally, most patients who come to the emergency room with chest pain are admitted to the hospital, Dr. Peller said. Using GSPECT, his team was able to decide within two or three hours if a patient needed to be in the hospital or if it was safe to send the patient home. Not only is the test accurate, but it saves money by safely sending more patients home directly from the emergency room, Dr. Peller said.
GSPECT is designed to look at blood flow to each region of the heart and at the ability of the heart muscle to contract, Dr. Peller said. A deficiency in blood flow or muscle contraction indicates a serious problem, he said. When a patient with chest pain comes to the emergency room, he/she is injected right away with a radioactive compound that sticks to normal heart muscle cells.
The heart is then photographed by a special camera, and a computer uses those images to create pictures of the heart as well as a model of the heart in motion, Dr. Peller said. Results of the test are available in hours.
Sending patients home from the emergency room saves money, Dr. Peller said. It can cost several thousand dollars to keep a patient in the hospital for just a day or two, he said. By sending heart patients home after a few hours instead of a few days, those costs are avoided.
The American Roentgen Ray Society, with some 12,000 members, is the first and oldest radiological society in the United States. The society is dedicated to the advancement of medicine through the science of radiology.
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