Role of cardiovascular nuclear medicine in evaluating trauma and the postoperative patient.

In the patient with cardiac trauma, radionuclide imaging may provide important information about cardiac mechanical function, vascular anatomy and integrity, myocardial perfusion, and myocardial metabolism. Studies require only minimal patient cooperation, can be performed relatively rapidly and often at the bedside, and may be repeated at frequent intervals for serial evaluations. These studies provide valuable adjunctive knowledge when selected and interpreted with knowledge of the mechanism of injury, timing of the examination relative to the time of injury, and most likely differential diagnoses.