Heart Rhythm, Volume 2, Issue 6, Pages 602-609
J.Moak, B.Eldadah, C.Holmes, S.Pechnik, D.Goldstein
All four patients with bilateral sympathectomy had low septal myocardial 6-[18F]fluorodopamine-derived radioactivity (2,673 ± 92 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at an average of 89 minutes after injection) compared with normal volunteers (3,634 ± 311 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at 83 minutes, N = 22, P = .007) and higher radioactivity than in patients with pure autonomic failure (1,320 ± 300 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at 83 minutes, N = 7, P = .003). Patients with unilateral sympathectomy had normal 6-[18F]fluorodopamine-derived radioactivity (3,971 ± 337 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at 87 minutes).
Conclusions
Bilateral upper thoracic sympathectomy partly decreases cardiac sympathetic innervation density.