October 8, 1999
Safer Emergency Heart Diagnosis
Emergency Department quandary: Patients arrive with chest pain and shortness of breath but initial blood tests and an electrocardiogram do not confirm a heart attack. At UAB, the safe, cost-effective solution is to look at blood flow in the coronary muscle by imaging a safe, fast and noninvasive radioactive tracer called sestamibi.
"Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) can detect blood-vessel obstruction at an early stage and identify high-risk patients with unstable angina," says cardiologist John Canto, M.D., M.P.H. "MPI lets us identify patients at intermediate risk and also provides additional critical diagnostic information."
Call Hank Black, Media Relations, 205-934-8938 or [email protected].
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