Adenosine stress protocols for myocardial perfusion imaging

Although there are no large randomized, blinded, prospective trials comparing 3- or 4-minute protocols with the 6-minute adenosine infusion protocol, there has been a history of clinical use of a 4-minute protocol with favorable results. Kinetic data for adenosine define that the minimum time to injection of tracer should be 2 minutes to provide adequate time to achieve maximal vasodilation, and that the maximal vasodilation should continue for 2 minutes to ensure adequate uptake for both Tc-99m- and Tl-201-labeled radiotracers. © 2007 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.