Postoperative thallium-201 myocardial images. Evidence of regression of right ventricular hypertrophy in man.

Thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphic studies were performed on 24 patients with chronic right ventricular overload before and after surgical correction of haemodynamic overload. The ages of the patients ranged from 20 to 65 years (mean 39 years) at operation. The degree of right ventricular visualisation remained essentially unchanged in an early postoperative study (four to 60 days), though a decrease in right ventricular cavity size was noted in patients with right ventricular volume overload. On later follow-up (18 to 36 months), thallium uptake in the right ventricle was definitely less than before operation in all 13 patients studied at this time. Because thallium-201 radioactivity reflects myocardial blood flow and mass, our study indicates that right ventricular hypertrophy is largely reversible. Thus, thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy can be used to assess non-invasively regression of right ventricular hypertrophy in patients with right ventricular overload.