Dipyridamole-Thallium Scanning in Patients Undergoing Vascular Surgery

Abstract

To the Editor.— I was delighted to see the recent contribution by Eagle et al, 1 which sheds much-needed light on the unresolved problem of perioperative risk assessment. Within the limits of the population studied, they present useful guidelines for when and how to apply dipyridamole-thallium scans. I will certainly try to incorporate their findings into my practice of anesthesiology. I must point out, however, that the authors have perpetuated a misnomer that seems to have arisen in the important article by Goldman et al. 2 Both articles refer to the Dripps—American Surgical Association [ sic ] risk classification. Dr Dripps, long-time chairman of the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, was one of the great figures in the modern history of that specialty, and ASA stands for American Society of Anesthesiologists. (I am personally unaware of a group called the American Surgical Association.) The idea of physical status