What are the benefits of using thallium 201?
The use of Tl-201 eliminates bowel and liver obstruction of the heart on the images as the method of uptake is via the sodium potassium pump used in the muscle movement of the left ventricle and does not clear through the hepatobilliary system.
What is the purpose of a thallium stress test?
A thallium stress test is a nuclear medicine study that shows your physician how well blood flows through your heart muscle while you’re exercising or at rest. This exam also allows your physician to visualize whether there has been any damage done to your heart by any problems you may have had previously.
What happens when Thallium 201 enters the body?
The radioactive isotope thallium 201 behaves physiologically as a potassium analog, and when injected intravenously accumulates rapidly within the cells of many organs. Uptake of the isotope reflects both regional perfusion and sodium-potassium pump activity.
What are the benefits of a nuclear stress test?
One major advantage of a nuclear stress test is that it provides an accurate picture of not only whether or not you might have an issue with the blood flow within your heart, but also of how severe it is. From this detailed picture, your doctor will be able to provide you with a prognosis from the test results.
How is Thallium-201 injected?
Tl is injected intravenously at peak exercise or during pharmacological stress and imaging is started soon after completion of stress. Myocardial segments perfused by narrowed coronary arteries or with scarring due to prior myocardial infarction show diminished tracer uptake on stress images.
How is Thallium-201 created?
Thallium-201 is a cyclotron-produced radionuclide that decays by electron capture, with a half-life of about 73 hours. On decay, the major emissions are characteristic x-rays of the daughter product, mercury-201 (201Hg), with an energy range of 69 to 81 keV.
What are the dangers of a nuclear stress test?
Risks
- Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Arrhythmias that occur during a stress test usually go away shortly after you stop exercising or the medication wears off.
- Heart attack. Although extremely rare, it’s possible that a nuclear stress test could cause a heart attack.
- Low blood pressure.
- Dizziness or chest pain.
Is Thallium-201 used in medicine?
Thallium-201 is a radiopharmaceutical agent used in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and parathyroid hyperactivity. Other useful applications for a thallium-201 scan like tumor diagnosis and olfacto-scintigraphy are being explored and have shown promising results in various studies.
When to use thallium-201 in exercise stress testing?
Additionally, Thallium-201 may be used in conjunction with exercise stress testing as an adjunct in the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease (atherosclerotic coronary artery disease) and is also indicated for the localization of sites of parathyroid hyperactivity in patients with elevated serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels.
What happens to Your Heart during a thallium stress test?
If you’re unable to exercise, your doctor will give you a medication that stimulates your heart and makes it beat faster. This simulates how your heart would act during exercise. Your blood pressure and heart rhythm are monitored while you exercise. Once your heart is working as hard as it can, you’ll get off the treadmill.
Are there any safety concerns with thallium-201?
Whole body and extremity exposures, skin contamination (dose), ingestion, inhalation, puncture/injection, absorption through skin, and area contamination are primary radiological safety concerns. Thallium – 201 Data Sheet Page 3 of 4 Revision Date: 09/20/18 Regulatory Compliance Limits (10 CFR 20/Appendix B)
How is thallium-201 used in myocardial perfusion imaging?
Thallium-201. Thallium-201 is a radiopharmaceutical used in myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using either planar or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) techniques for the diagnosis and localization of myocardial infarction. Thallium-201 may also have prognostic value regarding survival, when used in the clinically stable patient…