title: Left ventricular functional assessment in murine models of ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathy using [18 F]FDG-PET: comparison with cardiac MRI and monitoring erythropoietin therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We performed an initial evaluation of non-invasive ECG-gated [18 F]FDG-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) for serial measurements of left ventricular volumes and function in murine models of dilated (DCM) and ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM), and then tested the effect of erythropoietin (EPO) treatment on DCM mice in a preliminary FDG-PET therapy monitoring study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mice developed DCM 8 weeks after injection with Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), whereas ICM was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending artery. LV volumes (EDV and ESV) and the ejection fraction (LVEF) of DCM, ICM and healthy control mice were measured by FDG-PET and compared with reference standard results obtained with 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In the subsequent monitoring study, LVEF of DCM mice was evaluated by FDG-PET at baseline, and after 4 weeks of treatment, with EPO or saline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  LV volumes and the LVEF as measured by FDG-PET correlated significantly with the MRI results. These correlations were higher in healthy and DCM mice than in ICM mice, in which LVEF measurements were somewhat compromised by absence of FDG uptake in the area of infarction. LV volumes (EDV and ESV) were systematically underestimated by FDG-PET, with net bias such that LVEF measurements in both models of heart disease exceeded by 15% to 20% results obtained by MRI. In our subsequent monitoring study of DCM mice, we found a significant decrease of LVEF in the EPO group, but not in the saline-treated mice. Moreover, LVEF in the EPO and saline mice significantly correlated with histological scores of fibrosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LVEF estimated by ECG-gated FDG-PET significantly correlated with the reference standard MRI, most notably in healthy mice and mice with DCM. FDG-PET served for longitudinal monitoring of effects of EPO treatment in DCM mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Klinikum Grosshadern, Marchioninistr 15, Munich, 81377, Germany. marcus.hacker@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Todica
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Böning
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Nekolla
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wildgruber
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehner
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sauter
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ubleis
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klingel
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cumming
authors.forename: Wolfgang Michael
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hacker