Cardiac Blood Pool Scan

What To Think About

• The cardiac blood pool scan is a safe and accurate way to determine overall heart function.
• Multigated acquisition (MUGA) scans are routinely used before and after receiving a heart transplant to assess how well the heart is working. MUGA also may be used to monitor the ejection fraction in people receiving chemotherapy, especially those receiving doxorubicin (Adriamycin).
• Generally, an echocardiogram provides as much information as a MUGA scan and is less invasive. However, a MUGA scan provides more accurate information about ejection fraction than an echocardiogram, especially in people who are obese or who have lung disease. For more information, see the medical test Echocardiogram.
• MUGA is not used to diagnose a heart attack because heart damage will not show up on MUGA until 24 hours after the attack.
• MUGA does not provide information about the structure of heart valves or the thickness of the ventricle walls.