Sympathetic reinnervation demonstrated on serial iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine SPECT images after cardiac transplantation.
The transplanted heart is without autonomic nervous control in the early postsurgical period. We present here a case of cardiac transplantation in which 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) SPECT and an exercise-loading test were used to monitor the sympathetic reinnervation. The distribution of myocardial 123I-MIBG uptake extended with time from 1 to 2 yr after surgery. However, functional improvement, estimated by the heart rate response to exercise, was not discernable during this period. The findings in this case suggest the feasibility of 123I-MIBG SPECT imaging in the serial monitoring of sympathetic reinnervation after transplantation and that scintigraphic evidence of reinnervation precedes functional recovery.
Toba
M
M
Department of Radiology, National Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Ishida
Y
Y
Fukuchi
K
K
Shimotsu
Y
Y
Takamiya
M
M
Komamura
K
K
Nakatani
T
T
Ohuchi
H
H
Ono
Y
Y
Kamiya
T
T
D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine; D000328:Adult; D005080:Exercise Test; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine