Perfusion Case Study

Perfusion : Perfusion is the process of a body delivering blood to a capillary bed in itsbiological tissue. The word is derived from the French verb "perfuser" meaning to "pour over or through"[3].

Tests verifying that adequate perfusion exists are a part of a patient's assessment process that are performed by medical or emergency personnel. The most common methods include evaluating a body's skin color, temperature, condition and capillary refill. Perfusionists employ artificial blood pumps to propel open-heart surgery patients' blood through their body tissue, replacing the function of the heart while the cardiac surgeon operates.

When a patient's blood is continuously removed and returned through plastic tubing to allow

Ventilation/perfusion scans:

Ventilation/perfusion scans, sometimes called a VQ (V=Ventilation, Q=perfusion) scan, is a way of identifying mismatched areas of blood and air supply to the lungs. It is primarily used to detect a pulmonary embolus.

The perfusion part of the study uses a radioisotope tagged to the blood which shows where in the lungs the blood is perfusing. If the scan shows up any area missing a supply on the scans this means there is a blockage which is not allowing the blood to perfuse that part of the organ.

Myocardial perfusion imaging:

Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is a form of functional cardiac imaging, used for the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. The underlying principle is that under conditions of stress, diseased myocardium receives less blood flow than normal myocardium. MPI is one of several types of cardiac stress test.

A cardiac specific radiopharmaceutical is administered. E.g. 99mTc-tetrofosmin (Myoview, GE healthcare), 99mTc-sestamibi (Cardiolite, Bristol-Myers Squibb now Lantheus Medical Imaging). Following this, the heart rate is raised to induce myocardial stress, either by exercise or pharmacologically with adenosine, dobutamine or dipyridamole (aminophylline can be used to reverse the effects of