title: Positron emission tomography in the assessment of left ventricular function in healthy rats: a comparison of four imaging methods.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure left ventricular (LV) function parameters in heart of healthy rats by three different positron emission tomography (PET) imaging techniques and by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  ECG-gated microPET examinations were obtained in seven healthy rats with 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) for calculation of LV-function from the blood-pool phase of the dynamic recording (FDGBP), and also from the later myocardial uptake (FDGMyo). On subsequent days, we re-measured LV-function using the novel blood-pool tracer (68)Ga-albumin (AlbBP) and again by FDG (FDGMyo2) in one setting. Cine-MRI examination provided the reference standard measurement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean LV ejection fractions (LVEF) were 56 ± 3 (FDGBP), 55 ± 3 (FDGMyo), 56 ± 3 (FDGMyo2), 57 ± 3 (AlbBP), and 57 ± 2 (MRI). There were good to excellent correlations found between the LVEF-values as compared to MRI reference standard for FDGBP (r = 0.71), FDGMyo (r = 0.86) and AlbBP (r = 0.88). Both of the blood-pool methods significantly overestimated the magnitudes of end-diastolic-volume and end-systolic-volume, whereas FDGMyo matched closely to the MRI reference standard. There was no significant bias for both blood-pool methods and a minor negative bias for FDGMyo regarding the LV ejection fraction (LVEF) when compared to cine-MRI results. There was no significant difference between the means of FDGMyo and FDGMyo2 (P = .50).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Relative to reference standard MRI measurements of LVEF, there was excellent agreement between PET-based measurements, notably for the novel blood-pool tracer (68)Ga-albumin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Todica
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Böning
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehner
authors.forename: Eliane
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weidl
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cumming
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wängler
authors.forename: Stephan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Nekolla
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwaiger
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bartenstein
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schirrmacher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hacker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012709:Serum Albumin; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012709:Serum Albumin; C059652:gallium macroaggregated human serum albumin; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18