Selection of patients for preoperative coronary angiography: use of dipyridamole-stress--thallium myocardial imaging.

To identify patients likely to benefit from preoperative coronary angiography, a method utilizing pharmacologically induced coronary vasodilatation in conjunction with serial thallium 201 myocardial perfusion imaging was investigated. Fifty-four patients admitted for elective aortic or femoropopliteal procedures were studied. There were no cardiac ischemic complications in 32 patients with normal scans or persistent defects (scar). In contrast, 7 of 15 patients with thallium redistribution (ischemia) on pre-operative scanning had perioperative ischemic events, including one death and two acute infarcts. An additional seven patients with positive scans (redistribution) underwent coronary angiography prior to vascular surgery; surgically important two- or three-vessel disease was confirmed in all. Dipyridamole-thallium imaging facilitates selection of the subset of truly high-risk patients in whom preoperative coronary angiography may be warranted.