Abstract
BackgroundCardiac imaging by means of myocardial Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) is being used increasingly to assess coronary artery disease, to guide revascularization decisions with more accuracy, and it allows robust quantitative analysis of both regional myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR).Recently, a more time-efficient protocol has been developed in combination with a residual activity correction algorithm in which a stress acquisition is performed directly after completion of the rest acquisition to subtract remaining myocardial radioactivity.The objective of this study is to define flow values of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and Myocardial Flow Reserve (MFR) with 13N–ammonia (13NH3) myocardial perfusion PET/CT on patients without coronary artery disease using a time-efficient protocol, since reference values for this particular type of study are lacking in literature. In addition, we aim to determine the effect of the residual activity correction algorithm in this time-efficient protocol.ResultsA mean MBF in rest of 1.02 ± 0.22 ml/g/min, a mean MBF in stress of 2.54 ± 0.41 ml/g/min with a mean MFR of 2.60 ± 0.61 were measured. Female patients had a significant higher MBF in rest and stress, but lower MFR; a small but significant negative correlation was measured between age and MBF in stress and MFR. Residual activity correction had a significant effect resulting in a difference in global stress MBF before and after correction of 0.39 ± 0.13 ml/g/min.ConclusionsThis study established flow values for 13NH3 myocardial PET/CT with a time-efficient protocol, and established that MBF in stress corrected for residual activity is comparable with known reference values in normal studies without temporal overlap. Further validation of the technique could be of value, e.g. by comparison to standard imaging without temporal overlap, or validation against catheterization results.
Highlights
Cardiac imaging by means of myocardial Positron Emission Tomography/ Computed Tomography (PET/CT) is being used increasingly to assess coronary artery disease, to guide revascularization decisions with more accuracy, and it allows robust quantitative analysis of both regional myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR)
The objective of the present study is to determine flow values of MBF and MFR in Nitrogen-13 ammonia (13NH3) myocardial perfusion PET/CTs of a regular outpatient population to which a time-efficient protocol with a residual activity correction algorithm was applied, since reference values for this particular type of study are lacking in literature
The residual activity correction method significantly reduced the stress MBF values (p = < 0.001); a mean global MBF without residual activity correction was measured of 2.93 ± 0.44 ml/g/min with a calculated mean residual activity of 0.39 ± 0.13 ml/g/min, resulting in a mean global MBF with residual activity correction of 2.54 ± 0.41 ml/g/min. In this cohort study myocardial blood flow values were established for global rest and stress MBF and global MFR for time-efficient 13NH3 myocardial PET/CT with residual activity correction in patients without a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) from a regular cohort of cardiac patients who showed no signs of ischemia on the performed 13NH3 myocardial PET/CT and no coronary calcifications on CT
Summary
Cardiac imaging by means of myocardial Positron Emission Tomography/ Computed Tomography (PET/CT) is being used increasingly to assess coronary artery disease, to guide revascularization decisions with more accuracy, and it allows robust quantitative analysis of both regional myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR). A more time-efficient protocol has been developed in combination with a residual activity correction algorithm in which a stress acquisition is performed directly after completion of the rest acquisition to subtract remaining myocardial radioactivity. A more time-efficient protocol has been developed in which a stress acquisition is performed directly after completion of the rest acquisition This protocol is implemented in combination with a residual activity correction algorithm embedded in Syngo MBF software package (Siemens Healthcare, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA) to subtract remaining myocardial radioactivity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
