Evaluation of Ventricular Function by Radioisotopic Technics

Radioisotopes are finding increasing use in the evaluation of both right and left ventricular function.¹ Two approaches have emerged that show promise for clinical application. Measurements of ventricular function, including ventricular ejection fraction and the rates of ventricular emptying and filling, can be performed by monitoring of the initial passage of radioactive tracer through the heart (“first pass technic”) and, after the tracer has reached equilibrium in the vasculature, by physiologic triggering of the scintillation camera (“gated cardiac blood-pool technic”).^1,2 To measure ventricular function by the “first-pass technic,” any radiopharmaceutical that does not diffuse out of the vascular space into.