The advantages and limitations of radionuclide techniques in the patient with vascular disease an overview
Mishkin, F.S.
Vascular Surgery 11(4): 261-270
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-2835 PMID: 616146 Document Number: 113298
Radionuclides have been used to objectively assess the circulation for a half century. Techniques employing radioactivity were developed to provide true tracers which do not affect the process being measured. Radionuclides provide a unique sensitivity with the ability to detect and quantitate several thousand molecules. Relative distribution of activity and hence relative blood flow can be readily determined using particles which are completely trapped by the capillary bed during a single circulatory transit. Actual quantitative measurements of flow per unit weight can also be determined either by measuring clearance of intraarterial injection of a diffusible indicator such as 133Xe or by measuring the transit of an intraarterially injected intravascular, nondiffusible tracer. Most of the growth of nuclear medicine techniques is attributable to the non-invasive character of the method. In the field of peripheral arterial disease, much of the therapeutic effort has been aimed at circumventing anatomic obstruction in major vessels. In order to adequately plan therapy, the surgeon must be able to delineate the vessels proximal and distal to the obstruction to assure that intervention will be successful. A disadvantage is that radionuclide techniques lack the resolution necessary for establishing the anatomic details pertinent for surgical planning. Radionuclide techniques may be lumped into 2 broad categories: tracer techniques which measure appearance and disappearance of activity and imaging techniques which depict the distribution of activity at a particular time. Examples of imaging techniques are given.