title: Neuronal dysfunction and medical therapy in heart failure: can an imaging biomarker help to "personalize" therapy?
abstract: (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG) imaging is a tool for evaluating one of the fundamental pathophysiologic abnormalities seen in heart failure (HF), that of an upregulated sympathetic nervous system and its effect on the myocardium. Although this imaging technique offers information about prognosis for patients treated with contemporary guideline-based HF therapies and improves risk stratification, there are neither rigorous nor sufficient outcome data to suggest that this imaging tool can guide therapeutic decision making or better target subsets of patients with HF for particular therapies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology and CardioVascular Center, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston Massachusetts; and Predictive Analytics and Comparative Effectiveness (PACE) Center, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Benjamin S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Wessler
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology and CardioVascular Center, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston Massachusetts; and JUdelson@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Udelson
mesh_terms: D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000737:chemistry*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine; D009638:Norepinephrine
keywords: heart failure; heart-to-mediastinum ratio; myocardial washout rate; norepinephrine