Myocardial perfusion imaging with a new radiotracer, technetium-99m-hexamibi (methoxy isobutyl isonitrile): comparison with thallium-201 imaging.

Technetium-99m-hexamibi (methoxy isobutyl isonitrile) is a Tc-99m-hexakis analog that can be used as a myocardial perfusion imaging agent. This is a report of an initial study that was performed in four institutions to assess the feasibility of Tc-99m-hexamibi myocardial imaging for the detection of coronary artery disease in patients undergoing treadmill stress test. Thirty-three patients referred for evaluation of chest pain had two exercise stress tests, one with Tl-201 and at least 24 hours after, and a second one with Tc-99m-hexamibi. Myocardial planar imaging started 60 minutes after injection at stress of 10-20 mCi of Tc-99m-hexamibi. Because this agent does not redistribute in myocardium after a stress injection, a second injection of 10-20 mCi of Tc-99m-hexamibi was performed with the patient at rest a few days later. Qualitative assessment of both Tl-201 and Tc-99m-hexamibi myocardial distribution was performed in 297 left ventricle segments (three segments of each of three views). There was a good correlation for the presence of normality, scar, or ischemia with the two radiopharmaceuticals, both on a segment by segment (259/297, or 87.2%) and patient-by-patient basis (29/33, or 87.9%). The number of segments found ischemic with Tl-201 and with Tc-99m-hexamibi were nearly equal, as were the number that were normal with one radiopharmaceutical and ischemic by the other. This initial study demonstrates that it is possible to detect stress-induced abnormalities of myocardial perfusion with Tc-99m-hexamibi similar to Tl-201 imaging.