Assessment of right ventricular overload by a thallium-201 SPECT study in children with congenital heart disease.

Thallium-201 planar and SPECT studies were performed in 38 children with congenital heart disease using high-resolution three-headed SPECT. The 201Tl total or average right ventricular-to-left ventricular (RV/LV) count ratios were measured by summed short-axis images. In the planar study, the RV/LV systolic pressure ratio correlated with 201Tl RV/LV average count ratio (r = 0.91) better than that in the SPECT study (r = 0.78). However, in the SPECT study, patients with atrial septal defect (n = 9), ventricular septal defect (n = 13), tetralogy of Fallot and double outlet right ventricle (n = 6) showed a characteristic distribution in the plot of RV/LV pressure ratio versus 201Tl RV/LV total count ratio. A prospective study showed that the RV/LV average count ratio was a good predictor of RV/LV pressure ratio (n = 19, r = 0.91). Three-headed SPECT is useful for pediatric cardiac studies, and the overload types found in congenital heart disease seemed to be differentiated by the SPECT study.