Cardiac Blood Pool ScanTest Overview
A cardiac blood pool scan shows how well your
heart  is pumping blood to the rest of your body.
During this test, a small amount of a radioactive substance called a
tracer is injected into a vein. A gamma camera detects
the radioactive material as it flows through the heart and lungs. The percentage of blood pumped out of the heart with each heartbeat
is called the
ejection fraction. It provides an estimate of how well
the heart is working. There are two types of cardiac blood pool scans. - First-pass scan. This scan makes pictures of the
blood as it goes through the heart and lungs the first time. A first-pass scan
can be used in children to look for heart problems that have been present since
birth (congenital heart disease).
- Gated scan or multigated acquisition (MUGA) scan. This scan uses the electrical signals of the heart to trigger the
camera to take a series of pictures that can be viewed later like a motion
picture. The pictures record the heart's motion and determine if it is pumping
(contracting) properly. MUGA scanning may take 2 to 3 hours to obtain all the
needed views and can be done both before and after you exercise. You may be
given nitroglycerin to see how your heart responds to this medicine. MUGA
scanning may be done after a first-pass scan. It is usually not done on
children.
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