nuclear medicine heart scan

hello has anyone had one of these. I know from letter it’s two tests over two days, one with radioactive marker then next day with nothing. I believe they will be testing blood flow. Any one experienced this test, any side effects? Does it show any thing other than blood flow?

[Gibson01]

I had one of these about 12 months ago at the Manchester Royal. My cardiologists chose this as the previous angiogram was abandoned when it caused a clot which had to be removed in the cath lab. The nuclear medicine scan is an alternate way of looking for restrictions in the arteries as these would show up as areas of low flow. It took about an hour in total from having the nuclear tracer to getting dressed. A drug is used to lightly stress the heart . The results came back clear for me, which was great relief as cardiologists were contemplating a bypass operation before the test results. I don't remember having any side effects

[Hidden in reply to Gibson01]

Thanks I?m becoming resigned / used to my daily pain I think, I’m going through the motions with this scan, but needs must to progress with my treating hospital. But good to hear no side effects felt. And that yours was thankfully clear. It’s a bit perverse for me I want it to show something as I am in daily pain and it impacts day to day life- I want a clear answer. The heat don’t help.

[Gibson01 in reply to Hidden]

Yes I had the same sentiments as you. I wanted them to find something that could be fixed. Unfortunately they didn't, so my diagnosis is refractory angina. Nicorandil was added to my medication, and that has helped. My cardiologist referrred me to the pain management clinic, and 14 months later, I'm due my first face to face appointment in October. Hopefully I'll get some benefit from this.

[megnben in reply to Gibson01]

Can you tell me how long to get your result as im still waiting ,they said apx 10 days but over a month now and feel like my lifes on hold

[Gibson01 in reply to megnben]

I was in hospital at the time, occupying a valuable bed in a cardiac ward. Hence the results came through within a few days. Once they had reported that blood flows were normal, I was stared on Nicorandil and went home a few days later.I would guess the delay is waiting for a cardiologist to see you.

Have you chased up your cardiologist?

Good luck!

[Hidden in reply to megnben]

Yes cardiologist or their secretary first step. Also You might be able to get your report / images via a Subject Access Request. We’re not medical people so may not make much sense but sometimes they’ll state / summaries result for cardiologist. Contact your PALS for your treating hospital/trust but they have 30 days to respond from when you submit a form. Just done this for my scan result although am seeing cardiologist next week, I do find now I like to have my own copies. (I got hold of my echo report and found an issue that an independent opinion stated should be investigated (plus some research into studies on the matter) but cardiologist had said my echo was “very reassuring)

[megnben in reply to Hidden]

Have contacted cardio sec three times but only answer machine and never get a reply ,getting really fed up now

[Hidden in reply to megnben]

know this isn’t what you want to hear and wish I had an answer other than it took me to get to point of being a pest and kept calling and leaving messages and trying till got a person rather than answer machine, I had more success when she was on holiday and spoke to the secretary covering. I too get really fed and sometimes in tears but kept calling. Daily if you have to. Don’t show any frustration when you get through, you want this person to sympathise and shove things under the cardiologist’s nose. Keep going.

[Wingnutty]

I had one about 10 years ago which was a waste of time and a radiation dose that I could have done without. It was called a MIBI scan. I had to carry a piece of paper with me explaining that I was slightly radioactive because of the scan for about 3 months. This was necessary because airports and some major train stations have radiation monitors on the look out for terrorists. I wouldn't have minded if the scan had produced a result that could be read but it didn't. The reason they do two scans is because the subtract the resultant images of one scan from the other to give an overall result which means something to them. I was told that after the subtraction in my results, it was as if the the two scans were the wrong way around. I'll try and explain that in a simple equation. A-B =C. Let's say A is 5 and B is 2, then the result is 5-2 =3 which means something to the clinician, but when they did my subtraction it came out as -3 which is supposed to be an impossible result and therefore it was abandoned as not working. I've no idea how frequently this happens, but I do seem to be very unlucky with this sort of thing where standard medical equipment doesn't seem to work on me.

[Hidden in reply to Wingnutty]

Thanks, my treating hospital just doesn’t seem to want to commit to any possible reasons and explains very little, part of me is having the scan because I know as soon as I say no, they will be even more despondent. Thanks for sharing your experience, I’m not putting any faith in it just a hoop to jump through, but if they need it to progress I am engaged with the process. But scary regards radioactive for so long? I’m having an x ray a day later for knees - wonder if I should mention to scan people.

[Wingnutty in reply to Hidden]

The X-ray is insignificant. You get a blast of x-ray for less than a second and all radiation is gone as soon as that blast finishes. With the nuclear medicine scan, you actually have the stuff inside you which carries on being radioactive for quite some time afterwards.

[Buffy6956]

hi

Can I ask did u ever get a diagnosis from your nuclear scan? Was it normal or did it pick up a problem plus did u have any side effects please?

[Hidden in reply to Buffy6956]

hello can’t quite believe it’s been two months and the tone of my posts are quite different to where I am, I’ve made much progress with current cardiologist who has been really shown understanding and a desire to help, now referring me to a London cardiologist as has more experience in my issue. As for the nuclear scan my cardiologist said it was to rule out or rule in vasospasms, the result was vasospasms have been ruled out which now means they are focusing on my anatomical issue of part of my LAD being buried inside my heart muscle rather then on the surface like normal. Side effects of test - none since the test that I can see and feel, during the test the adenosine caused severe chest pain, stomach / abdominal pain. Nauseous feeling, headache and neck and jaw pain. And left arm pain. But few seconds after they stopped the adenosine I was back to normal, tired though. Hope helps. It was worth doing in my case to focus the cardiologist’s approach on how to take forward.

[Buffy6956 in reply to Hidden]

Ty for quick reply… I’m having regadenoson which is slightly less aggressive as adenosine I’m told…. How long in seconds would u say the side effects lasted… glad your getting sorted

[Hidden in reply to Buffy6956]

I’d say good 30 seconds less than minute. I was up and walking off soon after. Just tired. I was very tired over the next couple days. Aggressive is certainly a good way to describe adenosine! Good luck

[Lezzers]

This is a MIBI (mycardial profusion scan) my husband is having one in 2 weeks. You will be able to drive afterwards so I think there will be minimum risks. We were concerned about the dye as my husband had radiotherapy less than 2 years ago, they've assured us thatll be no problem, but he's to stay away from pregnant women & children for 24 hrs. I believe it shows how & heart & blood flow reacts under stress & relaxation. It's a safer option then an angiogram, but the results may showed the need for further investigation which will mean an angiogram.

Ps: you will need to take a fatty sandwich (cheese) with you for both parts of the test & you may have to stop taking certain medication beforehand.

[Hidden in reply to Lezzers]

that’s exactly how it worked out, although no instructions to bring sandwich, my test was over two days, day 1 adenosine and radioactive stuff, day 2 only radioactive stuff. We’re told to drink orange squash / water whilst waiting between injection and scan. Good luck to your husband, these tests are all so important to ensure we get what we need!

[Buffy6956 in reply to Hidden]

was yours an MRI perfusion scan? Mine is a nuclear stress test

[Lezzers]

ah, sorry I hadn't realised your post was 2 months old. My husband's MIBI is in 2 weeks, I've updated my comments!!

Can  I ask how long these scans took? The hospital is a long way from us so was thinking of travelling with him but if he's gonna be there for hours and I can't stay with him, it'll be a boring day for me! There's no parks, shops etc anywhere near the hospital to keep me busy. Also how long did it take to get the results? And do you know if they also look at your EF level? My husband's has dropped a lot since his cancer treatment but as he's now on dapagliflozin & Entresto we would like to know if this has helped his EF to improve. We don't normally focus on his EF but after starting these meds & having a couple of iron infusions his energy levels massively improved, just recently his energy has started to wane again.

Good to hear you're being so well looked after now, fingers crossed 🤞 you have an answer to your issues soon

[Hidden in reply to Lezzers]

No problem, time is weird when waiting for tests, results and appointment, the time in between feels like an eternity. I’ll try and answer your questions as best can:

1. Injections / ecg bit about 20 minutes then a wait for about an hour where I had to drink and make sure had a wee, then the scan was about 30 minutes so I’d say couple of hours. Same on day 1 and day 2. They’re very organised, conveyor belt service! Second day there were lots of other people there but again felt like at least couple of hours. Some people brought lunch, books and there was a telly.

2. Sorry don’t know about EF, mine was looking for vasospasms but I am going to get the report through PALS as I’ve learnt that’s best way to see all that they record as letter just says “very reassuring”.

3. Had tests on 16/8 and 17/8, letter signed 26/8 and probably took a few days / week to come out to me. Funnily enough I’d phoned a week or so after tests the scan department to see if the report had been sent to the cardiologist (a little trick I’ve learnt so I can at least see it’s progressing) and they “accidentally” gave me the result. 😂

Thanks same for yourselves, your husband’s situation looks a lot more complex so hope results help him.