Myocardial revascularization in patients with impaired left ventricular function

From March 1988 to May 1993, 1,125 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent coronary surgery at our Institute. In the same period 74 patients (mean age 59 +/- 7 years; range 36-73) with left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) were referred for surgical decision making. All patients underwent [99mTc]MIBI/SPET to assess perfusion at rest and [99mTc]MIBI first pass radionuclide angiography to assess the ejection fraction (EF). In 44/74 patients we performed [18F]FDG/PET in fasting conditions and pharmacologic wash-out, in order to identify viable myocardium. We divided patients with LVD into 3 groups: Group A (30 patients) operated on without preoperative [18F]FDG/PET, Group B (37 patients) operated on with FDG uptake in segments with wall motion abnormalities, and Group C (7 patients) with no FDG uptake, who were excluded from coronary surgery; there was no significant difference among the 3 groups with respect to age, sex, CAD, risk factors and EF (Group A: 29.1% +/- 6.6%, range 16-39%; Group B: 30.8 +/- 5.6%, range 20-40%; Group C: 26.5 +/- 6.8%, range 18-37%). The study of perfusion and EF was repeated 6 months postoperatively in Group A and B. Left ventricular end-dyastolic pressure at cardiac catheterization was 19.9 +/- 5.1 mmHg, 20.4 +/- 4.7 mmHg and 26.8 +/- 9.2 mmHg in Group A, B and C, respectively. Myocardial protection was achieved according to the Buckberg protocol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)