Molecular cardiovascular imaging using scintigraphic methods

Stegger, Lars; Schäfers, Klaus P.; Kopka, Klaus; Wagner, Stefan; Hermann, Sven; Kies, Peter; Law, Marilyn P.; Schober, Otmar; Schäfers, Michael

doi:10.1007/s00330-006-0541-6

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…For further review of nuclear technologies, we wish to direct the reader to recently published review articles. 7,8 This article will focus on non-nuclear technologies and combined imaging methods. Given that any imaging technology has ultimate limitations, the use of contrast agents and especially the new generation of molecularly targeted nanoparticulate agents provide novel opportunities for enhanced imaging-termed molecular imaging-and will be discussed in this paper as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and advances in CT plaque imaging

Cyrus

Gropler

Woodard

2009

Journal of Nuclear Cardiology

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The goal of this review is to highlight current advances in the non-invasive detection of clinically significant atherosclerotic disease including the so-called vulnerable plaque with computed tomography. Atherosclerotic disease encompasses stages of plaque progression, stabilization, and even regression. Traditionally, the focus of diagnostic imaging has been the detection of lumen-occluding atheroma. However, advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of atherosclerotic plaque have shown that, in certain stages of plaque progression, plaque is "vulnerable" and able to cause acute coronary syndromes despite "non-significant" vascular occlusion at baseline. This provides a rationale to improve our non-invasive imaging technology. Presented here are improvements in soft-tissue resolution with technical advancements as well as contrast-enhancement and lately even nanotechnology-based technology which are geared to detect the clinically elusive vulnerable plaque and provide an opportunity for preventative therapy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and advances in CT plaque imaging

Cyrus

Gropler

Woodard

2009

Journal of Nuclear Cardiology

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“…PET offers the unique opportunity to assess changes of biochemical processes on a molecular level, with high sensitivity. Myocardial perfusion, metabolism, innervation, and gene expression count among the many biochemical systems accessible with PET (1). Despite the challenges posed by the small body size of a mouse, several cardiac studies assessing the left ventricular (LV) myocardium have been successfully performed in these animals, using dedicated high-resolution small-animal PET systems (2)(3)(4).…”

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confidence: 99%

Quantification of Left Ventricular Volumes and Ejection Fraction in Mice Using PET, Compared with MRI

Stegger

Heijman²,

Schäfers³

et al. 2008

J Nucl Med

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PET has become an important noninvasive imaging technique in cardiovascular research for the characterization of mouse models in vivo. This modality offers unique insight into biochemical changes on a molecular level, with excellent sensitivity. However, morphologic and functional changes may be of equal importance for a thorough assessment of left ventricular (LV) pathophysiology. Although echocardiography and MRI are widely considered the imaging techniques of choice for the assessment of these parameters, their use with PET considerably increases study complexity and decreases cost-and time-efficiency. In this study, a novel method for the additional quantification of LV volumes and ejection fraction (EF) from PET was evaluated using cardiac MRI as the reference method. Methods: The radiolabeled glucose derivative 18 F-FDG was injected into 33 mice (6 mice with previous permanent occlusion of the left anterior descending artery [LAD], 15 mice with a temporary 30-min occlusion of the LAD, and 12 mice without previous surgery). 18 F-FDG uptake within the LV myocardium was measured using a dedicated small-animal PET scanner. After we reconstructed the images into 16 electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated frames, we determined the LV cavity volumes in end-diastole (EDV) and end-systole (ESV) and the EF using a semiautomatic segmentation algorithm based on elastic surfaces. A 6.3-T cardiac MRI examination was performed in the same animals using an ECG-triggered and respiratory-gated multislice cine sequence. The MR images were segmented with a semiautomatic algorithm using commercially available software. Results: Overall, measurements from PET agreed well with those obtained by MRI. Mean EDV and ESV were slightly overestimated by PET (86 6 43 mL and 44 6 42 mL), compared with MRI (73 6 44 mL and 41 6 46 mL); mean (6SD) EF was similar (PET, 55 6 19 mL; MRI, 54 6 18 mL). Correlation between PET and MRI was excellent for EDV (0.97) and ESV (0.96) and good for EF (0.86). The slope of the regression line was nearly perfect for EDV (0.98) and EF (1.01) and slightly below 1 for ESV (0.90), indicating a good separation of abnormal and normal values with PET. The y-intercept was above zero for EDV (15 mL) and ESV (7 mL) and near to zero for EF (0.2%). Conclusion: The quantification of LV volumes and EF in mice with PET is both efficient and accurate. This method allows for combined molecular and functional imaging of the left ventricle within a single scan, obviating additional sophisticated MRI in many cases.

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“…If the CT scan will be used for attenuation correction of the PET scan, good co-registration is required to avoid artefacts in the PET study itself [11]. For molecular cardiovascular imaging, perfect alignment is required in order to identify plaque vulnerability by scintigraphic methods [15]. Our impression is that the accuracy achieved with manual co-registration of nongated PET is sufficient for the correct assignment of regional perfusion defects to the supplying vessel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%