Comparison of 99mTc-sestamibi/18FDG DISA SPECT with PET for the detection of viability in patients with coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction.
OBJECTIVE
Dual-isotope simultaneous acquisition (DISA) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is an attractive technique as it permits assessment of both myocardial glucose metabolism and perfusion within a single session, but few data on its accuracy for the assessment of viability are available as yet. In the present study, DISA SPECT was compared with positron emission tomography (PET) for the detection of myocardial viability in normal and dysfunctional left ventricular (LV) myocardium.


METHODS
Fifty-eight patients with chronic coronary artery disease and LV dysfunction (LV ejection fraction 33+/-12%) were studied. Patients underwent a 1-day dipyridamole stress 99mTc-sestamibi/18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) DISA SPECT and 13N-ammonia/18FDG PET protocol. Within 1 week, resting MRI was performed to assess contractile function. Comparison of PET and SPECT data was performed using both visual and quantitative analysis.


RESULTS
The correlation of normalised activities of the flow tracers 99mTc-sestamibi and 13N-ammonia was good (r = 0.82; p < 0.001). The correlation between the two 18FDG studies was also good (r = 0.83; p < 0.001). The agreement for the assessment of viability for all segments between DISA SPECT and PET was 82%, with a kappa-statistic of 0.59 (95% CI 0.53-0.64), without a significant difference; in dysfunctional segments only, the agreement was 82%, with a kappa-statistic of 0.63 (95% CI 0.56-0.70), without a significant difference. When the DISA SPECT data were analysed visually, the agreement between DISA SPECT and PET was 83%, with a kappa-statistic of 0.58 (95% CI 0.52-0.63), without a significant difference. Moreover, there was no significant difference between visual and quantitative DISA SPECT analysis for the detection of viability.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows an overall good agreement between 99mTc-sestamibi/18FDG DISA SPECT and PET for the assessment of myocardial viability in patients with severe LV dysfunction. Quantitative or visual analysis of the SPECT data did not influence the agreement with PET, suggesting that visual assessment may be sufficient for clinical purposes.
Slart
Riemer H J A
RH
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Groningen University Medical Center, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, 9700 RB, Groningen, The Netherlands. r.slart@nucl.umcg.nl
Bax
Jeroen J
JJ
de Boer
Jaep
J
Willemsen
Antoon T M
AT
Mook
Piet H
PH
Oudkerk
Matthijs
M
van der Wall
Ernst E
EE
van Veldhuisen
Dirk J
DJ
Jager
Pieter L
PL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017682:Myocardial Stunning / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi