The clinical efficacy of thallium emission myocardial tomography using a seven-pinhole collimator in the right anterior oblique (RAO) projection was evaluated. Myocardial tomography in left anterior oblique (LAO) and RAO projections was performed following planar thallium perfusion imaging at rest in 11 patients with myocardial infarction. The RAO tomogram was useful, especially in detecting apical perfusion defects, while the LAO tomogram was useful in detecting inferior and anteroseptal wall defects. For the four patients without an apparent myocardial perfusion defect seen on the planar image, the LAO tomogram showed a perfusion defect in three, and the RAO tomogram also showed the defect in three. One or the other of the two views demonstrated the defect for all 11 patients. The myocardial tomogram in the RAO projection, providing a sufficiently high-quality and high-contrast image, gives useful information complementary to the findings of the commonly used LAO projection in the evaluation of myocardial infarctions.
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