Assessment of global and regional left ventricular function by electrocardiographic gated N-13 ammonia positron emission tomography in patients with coronary artery disease.
BACKGROUND
Electrocardiographic gated 13N-ammonia positron emission tomography (PET) enables simultaneous assessment of myocardial blood flow and left ventricular (LV) function. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of gated 13N-ammonia PET for evaluating global and regional LV function in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) in comparison with conventional left ventriculography (LVG).


RESULTS
Fifty-four patients with CAD underwent gated 13N-ammonia PET and LVG. The LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes (LVEDV, LVESV) and ejection fraction (LVEF) by gated 13N-ammonia PET were calculated using Cedars-Sinai automated quantitative gated single photon emission computed tomography (QGS) and compared with those obtained by LVG. The regional wall motion (RWM) was visually scored, and compared with that on LVG. There were good correlations between the 2 methods for LVEF, LVEDV and LVESV (R=0.828, R=0.821 and R=0.874 respectively). The RWM assessed by gated 13N-ammonia PET also agreed well with that by LVG (complete agreement was 70.4%, kappa=0.58).


CONCLUSIONS
Gated 13N-ammonia PET combined with QGS works reasonably well for the assessment of both global and regional LV function in CAD patients, although additional calibration may be necessary.
Kanayama
Sugako
S
Department of Cardiology, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan. sugako-k@kanazawa-med.ac.jp
Matsunari
Ichiro
I
Hirayama
Akira
A
Kitayama
Michihiko
M
Matsudaira
Masamichi
M
Yoneyama
Tatsuya
T
Nekolla
Stephan G
SG
Hisada
Kinichi
K
Kajinami
Koji
K
Takekoshi
Noboru
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000641:Ammonia; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006334:Heart Function Tests; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009590:Nitrogen Radioisotopes; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D015635:Radionuclide Ventriculography; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left
D009590:Nitrogen Radioisotopes; D000641:Ammonia