Thallium and sestamibi stress tests

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Anterior heart arteries

Nuclear scan

Sestamibi and thallium stress tests; MIBI stress test

When a normal amount of the radiotracer arrives into all areas of the heart, the heart images are obtained are normal. The heart images at peak exercise are compared to the heart images at rest. If during both exercise and rest all images are normal, then your blood flow through the coronary arteries is considered to be normal.

In your heart pictures, an area may lack the radiotracer and thus show a spot of a different color, called a “defect”. Defects represent poor uptake of the radiotracer by the heart because of reduced blood flow.

When a defect occurs at peak exercise and not at rest, the most likely cause is a significant blockage of a coronary artery. When a defect is observed both at rest and with exertion, that indicates that previous damage from a heart attack has occurred and that the heart muscle has a scar.

Review Date: 01/24/2007
Reviewed By: Stuart Bentley-Hibbert, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.