A cardiac imaging radiopharmaceutical produced by DuPont Pharmaceuticals of Wilmington, DE, is shaping up to be an effective predictor of heart attack or cardiac death in older patients with diabetes. Results of a multicenter study on Cardiolite were presented at the American College of Cardiology conference in Anaheim on March 14.
Cardiolite, a technetium-based radiotracer, evaluates the heart’s pumping ability and gauges the amount of blood flow to the heart muscle. It could be particularly useful for assessing the risk for heart attack in older patients who may not be able to withstand the discomfort of an invasive procedure, said Dr. Daniel Berman, principal investigator for the study and director of nuclear cardiology at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
In the study sample, 4,755 patients with known heart disease were evaluated with Cardiolite. According to DuPont, initial results indicated that the Cardiolite stress test successfully identified patients with diabetes who were at high or low risk for future heart attacks. In addition, the kit was particularly effective in predicting heart attacks in women with diabetes, aged 55 and higher.
The information provided by Cardiolite, as well as an evaluation of high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, can help doctors predict heart attacks as effectively in women as in men, said Dr. Leslee Shaw, associate professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta and a co-author of the study.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
March 15, 2000
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