Journal of Nuclear Cardiology (J Nucl Cardiol)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Pitfalls in statistical methods.

  Fei Gao, David Machin
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 05/2013;
• Article: Reply: Logistic regression, odds ratio, and factor variables.

  Mario Petretta, Alberto Cuocolo
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 05/2013;
• Article: Relationship between impaired cardiac sympathetic activity and spatial dyssynchrony in patients with non-ischemic heart failure: Assessment by MIBG scintigraphy and tagged MRI.

  Masato Yonezawa, Michinobu Nagao, Koichiro Abe, Yoshio Matsuo, Shingo Baba, Takeshi Kamitani, Takuro Isoda, Yasuhiro Maruoka, Mikako Jinnouchi, Yuzo Yamasaki, Kohtaro Abe, Taiki Higo, Takashi Yoshiura, Hiroshi Honda
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Impairment of cardiac sympathetic activity has various detrimental effects on cardiac function. The purpose was to investigate the relationship between left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony and cardiac sympathetic activity in non-ischemic heart failure (HF). METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with non-ischemic HF were enrolled. Cardiac sympathetic activity was assessed by heart-to-mediastinum ratio (H/M ratio) on (123)I-Metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy. LV dyssynchrony was assessed by cross-correlation analysis of time curves of myocardial circumferential strains delivered from cine-tagging MR images. Temporal dyssynchrony was defined as contraction delay between septal and lateral segments >110 milliseconds. Spatial dyssynchrony was defined as the negative value of the maximum correlation for the two strain time curves. RESULTS: H/M ratio was significantly lower for patients with spatial dyssynchrony compared to patients without (1.8 ± 0.3 vs 2.1 ± 0.3, P < .05). There was no difference between patients with and without temporal dyssynchrony (2.0 ± 0.2 vs 2.0 ± 0.3). The incidence of spatial dyssynchrony was significantly higher in patients with H/M ratio <2.0 than those whose ratios were ≥2.0 (75% vs 20%, P = .001). There was no difference in the incidence of temporal dyssynchrony between the two groups (17% vs 20%). CONCLUSION: Impairment of cardiac sympathetic activity was found to be associated with spatial dyssynchrony in patients with non-ischemic HF.
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 05/2013;
• Article: Detection of silent myocardial ischemia: Is it clinically relevant?

  Mario Petretta, Giovanni Fiumara, Maria Piera Petretta, Alberto Cuocolo
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 05/2013;
• Article: Contained left ventricular free wall rupture: Evaluation by ERNA & echocardiography.

  Matthew M Collins, Diwakar Jain, Rasveg S Grewal
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 05/2013;
• Article: Novel application of (18)F-sodium fluoride an old tracer to a clinically neglected condition.

  Lynne L Johnson
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 05/2013;
• Article: Significance of I-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG) lung activity in subjects with heart failure in comparison to healthy control subjects.

  Myron C Gerson, Alok K Dwivedi, Mouhamad Abdallah, Rakesh Shukla, Arnold F Jacobson
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Little is known concerning the significance of lung activity of the sympathetic neuronal imaging agent (123)I-MIBG in heart failure patients and healthy subjects. METHODS: (123)I-MIBG activity was assessed in lung, heart, and mediastinum regions of interest on early and late planar images in 951 heart failure patients and 94 controls. Cox regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with outcome events during a median 17 month follow-up. RESULTS: Heart failure subjects with pulmonary disease had significantly reduced late lung-to-mediastinum (L/M) ratios compared to heart failure subjects without pulmonary disease. Late L/M ratio was greater in heart failure subjects without outcome events than either subjects with events or healthy controls. L/M ratio was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality. Subjects with combined favorable prognosis L/M ratio ≥ 1.7 and heart-to-mediastinum ratio (H/M) ≥ 1.6 had a significantly lower 2-year mortality (2.0%) than subjects with unfavorable L/M ratio < 1.7 and H/M ratio < 1.6 (17.7% 2-year mortality, P < .0008). CONCLUSIONS: Increased (123)I-MIBG lung activity in heart failure subjects, compared to controls, is associated with a relatively low risk of adverse events, including all-cause mortality. L/M ratio may, therefore, be useful to provide incremental prognostic information on (123)I-MIBG imaging.
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: Whole body assessment by (18)F-FDG PET in a patient with infective endocarditis.

  Atsuro Masuda, Osamu Manabe, Masanao Naya, Noriko Oyama-Manabe, Shiro Yamada, Shouji Matsushima, Florian C Gaertner, Satoshi Yamada, Hiroyuki Tsutsui, Nagara Tamaki
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: Decrease in the frequency of stress-induced ischemia over the past two decades.

  George A Beller
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: A selection of recent original research papers.

  Prem Soman
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: Association of linear (18)F-sodium fluoride accumulation in femoral arteries as a measure of diffuse calcification with cardiovascular risk factors: A PET/CT study.

  Tido Janssen, Peter Bannas, Jochen Herrmann, Simon Veldhoen, Jasmin D Busch, András Treszl, Silvia Münster, Janos Mester, Thorsten Derlin
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to correlate linear (18)F-sodium fluoride accumulation in the femoral arteries as a measure of diffuse mineral deposition in medial elastocalcinosis with cardiovascular risk factors (RFs) and calcified plaque burden (CPB). METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, 409 patients were examined by (18)F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). Tracer accumulation was analyzed both qualitatively and semiquantitatively by measuring the target-to-background ratio, and compared with cardiovascular RFs and CPB. Linear (18)F-sodium fluoride accumulation was observed in 159 (38.9%) patients and correlated significantly with age (P < .0001), hypertension (P < .0001), hypercholesterolemia (P = .0003), diabetes (P = .0003), history of smoking (P = .0007), prior cardiovascular events (P = .03), and CPB (P < .0001). The prevalence of linear tracer uptake increased as the number of cardiovascular RFs increased (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Linear (18)F-sodium fluoride uptake in the femoral arteries (1) provides a measure of diffuse mineral deposition, (2) demonstrates a highly significant correlation with cardiovascular RFs and CPB, and (3) is found to accumulate more frequently in patients with a high-risk profile for cardiovascular events. (18)F-sodium fluoride PET/CT may become a unique tool for in vivo visualization and quantification of ongoing calcification in large arteries.
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: SPECT vs CT: CT is not the first line test for the diagnosis and prognosis of stable coronary artery disease.

  Zachary J Trzaska, Mylan C Cohen
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: Myocardial perfusion imaging to guide percutaneous revascularization of chronic total occlusions: A gate keeper to the final frontier in PCI.

  Habib Samady, Gautam Kumar
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: CT vs SPECT: CT is the first-line test for the diagnosis and prognosis of stable coronary artery disease.

  Ahmed Aljizeeri, Myra S Cocker, Benjamin J W Chow
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  ABSTRACT: Non-invasive cardiac imaging is pivotal in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with stable CAD. Nuclear SPECT, PET, stress echocardiography and more recently cardiac magnetic resonance imaging have been utilized with excellent diagnostic accuracy. However, along with their inherent individual limitations, most modalities detect ischemia but lack the ability to define coronary anatomy or evaluate for subclinical atherosclerosis. A modality that not only accurately diagnoses obstructive CAD and also facilitates early identification of non-obstructive CAD may be of interest because it may allow for earlier aggressive risk factor modification and primary prevention. Cardiac computerized tomographic angiography (CCTA) has the potential to accurately detect or exclude luminal stenosis, as well as identify and quantify subclinical atherosclerosis in the absence if luminal narrowing. However CCTA, being a relatively a new modality, has less supporting evidence when compared to more mature modalities such as SPECT. Therefore, the question that begs to be addressed is whether CCTA can be utilized as a first line test in establishing the diagnosis and prognosis of CAD.
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: Traditional and novel methods to assess and prevent chemotherapy-related cardiac dysfunction noninvasively.

  Ronald G Schwartz, Diwakar Jain, Eugene Storozynsky
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  ABSTRACT: The field of cardio-oncology is challenged to address an ever greater spectrum of cardiotoxicity associated with combination chemotherapy, greater dose intensity, extremes of age, and enhanced patient survival which exposes more protracted risk of developing congestive heart failure (CHF). Recent reports of chemotherapy-induced hypertension as a common adverse effect of angiogenesis inhibitors and immunosuppressants clarify the need for routine blood pressure (BP) monitoring and guideline-based management of hypertension as an integral strategy to preserve LV function. Serial monitoring of radionuclide left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in adults and echocardiography in children continues to provide outcome based, cost-effective prevention of CHF in high risk patients receiving chemotherapy. To optimize treatment and monitoring strategies to eliminate late-onset LV dysfunction and CHF, traditional and novel candidate methods for assessment of chemotherapy-induced LV dysfunction are reviewed. These include serial assessment of LV volume indices by gated SPECT ERNA and gated SPECT MPI, 3D echocardiography and contrast 2D echocardiography; longitudinal strain imaging, diastolic functional parameters, (123)I-MIBG, (111)In-Antimyosin antibody imaging, and (99m)Tc-Annexin V apoptosis imaging, biomarkers including troponins and BNP; genetic markers, and both functional and tissue characterization techniques with T1 weighted and T2 weighted images with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). In our quest to optimize strategies for long-term cancer survival and prevention of CHF for patients receiving chemotherapy, rigorous modality and guideline-specific clinical outcome trials are required. A new multi-modality monitoring approach is proposed, which integrates evidence-based strengths of CMR, echocardiography, ERNA, biomarkers, and BP management for surveillance and validation of cardiotoxicity and prevention of clinical heart failure in patients receiving a broad spectrum of cancer therapies.
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013;
• Article: CT imaging of myocardial perfusion: Possibilities and perspectives.

  Alexander Becker, Christoph Becker
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  ABSTRACT: Functional imaging in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD) is crucial for the identification of patients who could benefit from coronary revascularization. Several studies demonstrated the high diagnostic accuracy of Single-photon-emission computed tomography myocardial perfusion imaging, stress perfusion magnetic resonance imaging, and of invasive FFR measurements for the detection of hemodynamic relevant stenosis. Cardiac computed tomography (CT) used to be limited to coronary angiography (CTA); current guidelines recommend CTA only for the exclusion of CAD. Technological advances now offer the possibility to assess myocardial perfusion by computed tomography (CT-MPI). Though different acquisition protocols and post-processing algorithms still have to be evaluated, initial clinical studies could already show a diagnostic accuracy comparable to the established imaging modalities. Thus, cardiac CT may offer a combined approach of anatomical and functional imaging. Beside the need for further studies, especially on the prognostic value of CT-MPI to stratify future cardiovascular events, the comparatively high radiation exposure and additional administration of contrast agent has to be taken in account.
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 04/2013; 20(2):289-96.
• Article: PET/CT imaging of myocardial blood flow and arterial calcium: Putting the pieces together.

  Amit Pursnani, Ahmed Tawakol
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 03/2013;
• Article: The prognosis for prognosis remains excellent.

  Christopher L Hansen
  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology 03/2013;