Quest about a stress thallium test

[0603david]

Hi everybody-
Has anyone had a stress thallium test done? Are you confident that it would indicate blockages if they were present?

[Gooba]

It is a very good test to find out if there is reduced blood flow to any section of the heart.To pinpoint it you will have to have a cath done.

[pcovers]

Originally Posted by 0603david

Hi everybody-
Has anyone had a stress thallium test done? Are you confident that it would indicate blockages if they were present?

As gooba stated, it is a good test to determine reduced blood flow in the heart. It is not a great test for determining a blocked artery with high degrees of certainty. A similar, but much more costly test that does a much better job is a PET scan using either ammonia or ribidium as the tracer agent. These agents must be made within a short time of the actual test and having the equipment to do it is costly. You have to really search to find a place that offers the PET scan. For more research on the comparison of a PET scan compred to the traditional SPECT thalium scan, see the following government site:

[URL=http://www.fda.gov/cder/regulatory/pet/ammonfinal.htm]PET scan research and statistics[/URL]

[0603david]

Well, it sounds like the thallium will do the job in finding a reduced blood flow, if any is present. I am 27 years old but have had a cholestorol of 358 since I was born. I have been experiencing some left arm numbness so the doc decided to run one on me. My Grandpa died at 28 of a heart attack so they want to be on the safe side. I can't take statins right now because I'm trying to have at least 1 more child. I just want to make sure nothing is getting blocked as of right now.

EKG and chest x-rays are fine. Thanks for your information and if you have any real life stories on this thallium, as determining reduced bloodflow, please share.

Thanks!

[pcovers]

Originally Posted by 0603david

Well, it sounds like the thallium will do the job in finding a reduced blood flow, if any is present. I am 27 years old but have had a cholestorol of 358 since I was born. I have been experiencing some left arm numbness so the doc decided to run one on me. My Grandpa died at 28 of a heart attack so they want to be on the safe side. I can't take statins right now because I'm trying to have at least 1 more child. I just want to make sure nothing is getting blocked as of right now.

EKG and chest x-rays are fine. Thanks for your information and if you have any real life stories on this thallium, as determining reduced bloodflow, please share.

Thanks!

You need to be clear on your objectives and what you hope to rule out by the test. It would take a significant blockage (stenosis) for a SPECT scan (traditional thalium stress test) to pick this up. I am not at all discouraging the test. They serve a usefull purpose. You must, however, be clear as to what you expect to find out from the test. If they find any abnormality, they would likely consider an angio cath, which would tell you conclusively what the status of your arteries are.

I offer the following only as information that may or may not be relevant to you or others. I am friends with a 50 year old female that had a thalium stress test in March of 2003. She was admitted to the ER last saturday and ultimately found to have a 95% block requiring two stents. Since stenosis does take some time to develop, it is likely there was some level of stenosis existant when she had the thalium stress test. Whether it was detected or not I don't know but if it was, they did not inform her of it at that time.

A thalium stress is a reasonable first test. Of ocurse your Dr should be able to best inform you of the reasonable expectations related to the results.