Abstract
Despite recent advances in therapeutic and diagnostic approaches, coronary artery disease (CAD) and its related cardiac disorders represent the most common cause of death in the United States. Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) technologies play a pivotal role in the diagnosis and treatment design for CAD. Recently, in order to develop improved MPI agents for diagnosis of CAD, (99m)Tc-[bis(dimethoxypropylphosphinoethyl)-ethoxyethyl-amine(PNP5)]-[bis(N-ethoxyethyl)dithiocarbamato(DBODC)]nitride(N-DBODC5)((99m)Tc-N-DBODC5) with a faster liver clearance than conventional single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging agents (technetium 99m sestamibi ((99m)Tc-MIBI) or technetium 99m tetrofosmin) has been introduced. In preclinical and phase I studies, (99m)Tc-N-DBODC5 has shown characteristics of an essentially ideal MPI tracer. Importantly, however, there is no data to support the use of (99m)Tc-N-DBODC5 to evaluate myocardial ischemia in patients with suspected CAD. The present study was designed to assess the clinical value of this agent; the findings of stress and rest MPI after the administration of this agent were compared to those of stress and rest (99m)Tc-MIBI, as well as those of coronary angiography, with respect to the detection of CAD. Our findings indicated the usefulness of (99m)Tc-N-DBODC5 as a promising MPI agent.