5. Persantine Thallium as Risk
Predictor
Can the persantine thallium actually predict who
is going to have a perioperative MI? Well, NO. Mangano did a study
in which he did thallium scintigraphy prior to vascular surgery.
He did not look at the results of the thallium study, they just
operated. This point is important. If you look at the results
of the study, things change. Patients get therapy, they get cancelled.
In the Mangano study they didn't read the thalliums so the results
demonstrate the pure effect of the thallium study.
The result? There was no association between the
redistribution defects on the thallium and any outcome. The preoperative
prophylactic thallium did not predict who was going to have a
cardiac event. The study was criticized for being small.
