title: Sympathetic reinnervation demonstrated on serial iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine SPECT images after cardiac transplantation.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toba
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimotsu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takamiya
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Komamura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakatani
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohuchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamiya
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine