thallium scan effectiveness

Respected Sir, I had conducted a stress thalliun test in Feb 2008 i was feeling some continueously light chest pain and irritaion and i had also the problem of gas trouble or Acidity first i conducted the endoscopy that was normal and then to ruled out ethe ischemic events i did stress thallium test that was also normal and the blood perfusion was normal to heart muscle and was written in report that in future the risk of Ischemic events is very low.Now i often feel the same irritation or chest discomfort in my chest and 8 months ago i conducted the ETT test for 15 minutes and the the Heart rate 185 and that was normal Gastric irritaion also occures often time i take the omeprazole.Now this is the complete history i want to ask that such kind of reports comes for how much time or period Thallium scan is effective My age is 34 years old and one important thing such chest discomfort is not related with Physical activity of exertion and Blood pressure also remains the same.Please answer my this question thanks

[erijon]

A thallium scan has a sensitivity of 87 -89% (some reports show this as high as 97%) meaning it will find any significant disease up to 89% of the time has an overall accuracy rate of 85%. There is no set amount of time these are good for, it depends on your symptoms. The reports also show that a normal thallium stress tests gives you a a favorable prognosis for up to 10 years, but that all depends on your symptoms. If you start having new or different symptoms the test should be repeated.

I hope this helps,

Jon

[ed34]

I've had three of those scans now, all within three years. The first showed excellent perfusion of all heart tissue, but this seemed to totally contradict the images from my angiogram. I was have been classed as normal/fit if the angiogram wasn't done first. The second didn't show anything either, but the third revealed some ischemia in the left ventricle. The scans are given to experts to evaluate and they then produce a document for the cardiologist with their findings. So it's all down to the correct interpretation of an individual who looks at probably 10-15 scans a day. The only clue they have is the colour/brightness of the areas of the heart and I'm sure some are not evaluated 100% accurately. There is also the job of the technician who sets up the scanner. In my second visit, I questioned why the scanner was over my chin, it wasn't like that the time before. I was basically ignored, I mean who was I to question it. When it was over, only half my heart was visible, the lower half was missed. This was in a very reputable heart hospital.