Use of IV Radionuclide Total Body Arteriography To Evaluate Arterial Bypass Shunts--A New Method-- A Review of Several Cases.

Currently, Doppler ultrasound and contrast angiography are the main imaging procedues being used to evaluate arterial bypass shunts. IV radionuclide total body arteriogra- phy (TBA) is another useful imaging procedure for evaluation of bypass shunts. The authors reviewed 33 patients, 19 women and 14 men, ranging in age from forty-three to eighty-five, who had TBA done after arterial bypass surgery. Ten patients had multiple shunts and 5 had multiple follow-up studies. In total there were 80 shunts, including 43 femoropopliteal, 16 axil- lofemoral, 1 axillopopliteal, 13 cross- over femorofemoral, and 7 aortofemoral shunts. Sixty-two of the 80 shunts were patent, 14 were occluded, and 4 had partial occlusion. The results were confirmed by Dopper studies, contrast angiograms, and/or surgical exploration without false positives or false negatives. Since the radiotracer used was ‘Tc- labeled red blood cells, a MUGA study can also be performed immediately following TBA in the same injection. Twenty-eight patients had gated cardiac blood pool studies (MUGA) done; 16 had abnormal wall motion and diminished ventricular function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]