For patients who have undergone CABG, repeat procedures are sometimes necessary. Six to ten percent of CABG procedures are now reoperations. However, reoperative mortality rates are two to three times those of the initial procedure and range from two to ten percent for second operations and up to 15 percent for third and subsequent operations. Patients undergoing repeat procedures generally have more advanced coronary artery disease rendering the revascularization process less effective. Coronary perfusion scanning is a nuclear imaging technique used to evaluate coronary blood flow.
Energy given off by the tracers is detected and processed by special computerized camera systems.
Images are produced that show how the tracers were distributed within the heart muscle. Tissues that are well supplied with blood absorb more tracers, and record as the light areas on scan images. The heart's oxygen demand is actually lowered as a result of the improved pumping efficiency.