DuPont touts favorable Cardiolite studies

Studies presented at this month’s American Heart Association meeting in Atlanta suggest that heart scans conducted with Cardiolite, a myocardial perfusion agent from North Billerica, MA-based Du Pont, may help clinicians predict a patient’s risk of future cardiac events and avoid performing invasive procedures. Researchers at Cedars Sinai Medical Center used Cardiolite in SPECT scans on 2600 patients to evaluate whether assessing cardiac function and perfusion would help predict the likelihood of both fatal and nonfatal heart attacks. The team found that cardiac function—the blood volume passing through the heart—is a strong cardiac death indicator, while perfusion—blood flow to the heart tissue—is a strong nonfatal heart attack risk indicator. The group surmised that evaluating these two factors could increase physicians’ accuracy in assessing a patient’s future heart attack risk.

In another study, conducted at the Medical College of Virginia, researchers used Cardiolite in the emergency room to assess whether patients with chest pain required coronary angiography. The 1000-patient study showed that fewer patients required the procedure when Cardiolite was used to appraise their condition. In a related study at MCV, 600 patients with chest pain but at low risk for heart attack were assessed with a Cardiolite scan, allowing clinicians to evaluate the extent of heart damage without more invasive testing.