[Clinical evaluation of 123I-BMIPP myocardial SPECT in patients with hypertensive heart disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: comparison with the findings of 201Tl SPECT and Gd enhanced magnetic resonance imaging].

123I-BMIPP SPECT (123I-BMIPP), 201Tl SPECT (201Tl), and Gd-DTPA enhanced magnetic resonance myocardial imaging (MR) were performed in patient groups with hypertensive heart disease (HHD), apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (APH), and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without APH(HCM). SPECT was divided into 20 segments and each segment was scored as one of 4 grades (0 = normal; 1 = mildly decreased; 2 = severely decreased; and 3 = defect) according to the RI uptake. Gd enhancement in MR was interpreted visually. A decreased in the uptake of 123I-BMIPP showed in 54 of 141 hypertrophic (> 13 mm, measured by ultrasonic cardiography) segments in HHD, in 32 of 66 in APH and in 103 of 207 in HCM respectively. Whereas 201Tl SPECT showed decreased uptake in 18 of 141 hypertrophic segments, in 18 of 66 in APH, and in 27 of 207 in HCM, respectively. 123I-BMIPP showed a higher incidence of these scintigraphic abnormalities than did 201Tl in the hypertrophic segments. And also in the hypertrophic segments, decreased in the uptake of 123I-BMIPP occurred more frequently in HCM than in HHD. In HCM, decreased 123I-BMIPP uptake appeared more frequently in segments 1, 2, 9, and 10 (antero-septal junction) than in other segments, but in APH, such decreases occurred more often in segments 17, 18, 19, and 20 (apex). Enhanced signal intensity with Gd-DTPA appeared in more segments in the HCM group than in the APH or HHD groups. We concluded that HCM had the most extensive and severe structural changes--including metabolic and ischemic changes--among three groups, and that the combination of these three examinations was useful for evaluating the characteristics of hypertrophic myocardium.