Coronary Artery Calcium Is Associated with Left Ventricular Diastolic Function Independent of Myocardial Ischemia

Abstract

It has been shown in several studies that coronary artery calcium (CAC) burden or CAC progression is associated with heart failure. We tested the hypothesis that the extent of CAC is associated with left ventricular (LV) diastolic parameters derived from gated myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with no evidence of myocardial ischemia. 157 patients undergoing coronary computed tomography (CT), gated SPECT, and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) were enrolled in this study. The CAC score was calculated according to the Agatston method. The peak filling rate (PFR) and the one-third mean filling rate (1/3MFR) were obtained as LV diastolic parameters. There were 139 patients with CAC and 18 patients without. The CAC score ranged from 0 to 4,976. There were no significant differences in the LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) (61 ± 21 mL versus 62 ± 22 mL, P = 0.79) and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) (66 ± 9% versus 68 ± 9%, P = 0.43). Patients with CAC had lower PFR than those without (2.2 ± 0.5 EDV/s versus 2.6 ± 0.7 EDV/s, P = 0.03). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that ln (CAC score + 1) was significantly associated with PFR (β = −0.20, P = 0.01) and 1/3MFR (β = −0.18, P = 0.049). Our data suggest that the extent of CAC is inversely associated with LV diastolic parameters derived from gated SPECT independent of myocardial ischemia.

Evaluation of Biventricular Function by Cadmium-zinc-telluride SPECT Gated Tomographic Radionuclide Angiography: Comparison to Conventional SPECT

“…There are few studies on PER and PFR in tomographic MUGA with CZT-SPECT, which may be related with that there is no public-recognized "gold" standard for these two parameters and CZT-SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) can also provide many functional parameters of left ventricles, such as PER and PFR, and MPI is more convenient and popular than MUGA, so there are many studies on this aspect in recent years [20][21], especially the study of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function under stress [22], but there are few studies on right ventricular PER and PFR in various examination techniques until now. In our study, the LVPER and LVPFR obtained by the two cameras and methods had a reasonable correlation (r = 0.672 and 0.700), but the correlation was worse than LVEF, which was still within our expectations.…”

Effects of Newly Developed Right Versus Left Bundle Branch Block on the QRS Axis, T-wave Axis and Frontal QRS-T Angle in Patients with a Narrow QRS

“…All patients fasted overnight, and underwent ECG-gated SPECT (10,11). Adenosine was infused over 6 minuts (120 μg/kg/min), and Tl-201 (111 MBq [3.0 mCi]) was injected 3 min after the initiation of adenosine infusion.…”

“…Semi-quantitative visual interpretation of SPECT images was performed with the short and vertical long axes divided into 17 segments. Each segment was scored using a 5-point scoring system (0, normal uptake; 1, mildly reduced uptake; 2, moderately reduced uptake; 3, severely reduced uptake; and 4, absence of detectable radiotracer in a segment) (10). The summed stress score (SSS) and the summed redistribution score (SRS) were determined, and the summed difference score (SDS) was obtained by subtracting the SRS from the SSS.…”

“…The summed stress score (SSS) and the summed redistribution score (SRS) were determined, and the summed difference score (SDS) was obtained by subtracting the SRS from the SSS. The left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), LV end-systolic volume (LVESV) and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) were obtained on stress images using the widely adopted algorithm (Quantitative gated SPECT [QGS]; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA) (10)(11)(12).…”

Impact of Prosthesis-Patient Mismatch After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement on Changes in Cardiac Sympathetic Nervous Function

“…Using a Vivid E9 ultrasound system with a 2.5 MHz transducer (GE Vingmed Ultrasound, Horten, Norway), comprehensive echocardiographic assessments were conducted by three experienced sonographers who had no knowledge of the patients' clinical statuses. 13,14) Using Echo Pac software version 112 (GE Vingmed Ultrasound), all imaging data were digitized and saved onto an optical disk for offline analysis. Echocardiographic parameters were measured according to the recommendations of the American Society of Echocardiography.…”