title: Variation of heart-to-mediastinal ratio in (123)I-mIBG cardiac sympathetic imaging: its affecting factors and potential corrections.
abstract: Studies have repeatedly shown the utility of (123)I-mIBG cardiac sympathetic imaging for identifying symptomatic heart failure patients most likely to experience adverse cardiac events. Delayed heart-to-mediastinal ratio (H/M) and washout rate derived from meta-iodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) scintigraphy have been used to monitor response to medical treatment. However, there is great variation of H/M ratio among publications from various institutions. The current article systemically reviews factors that can potentially affect H/M ratio, particularly the acquisition parameters, and proposes new approaches and/or procedures to standardize the imaging procedure and minimize the variation of H/M among institutions.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. wchen5@umm.edu
authors.forename: Wengen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Vasken
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dilsizian
mesh_terms: D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000294:innervation; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011379:Prognosis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine