Benefits of quantitative gated SPECT in evaluation of perioperative cardiac risk in noncardiac surgery.

Objective: Gated single-photon emission computed tomography (G-SPECT) was used to evaluate cardiac risk associated with noncardiac surgery and determine the benefits and indications of this technique for this type of surgery.

Materials And Methods: Patients scheduled to undergo noncardiac surgery under the supervision of anesthesiologists and subjected to preoperative cardiac evaluation using G-SPECT during the 26-month period between June 2000 and August 2002 were followed for the presence/absence of cardiac events (i.e.