title: Feasibility and accuracy of gated blood pool SPECT equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography for the assessment of left and right ventricular volumes and function in patients with left ventricular assist devices.
abstract: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) require serial assessment of right and left ventricular (RV & LV) volumes and function. Because the RV is not assisted, its function is a critical determinant of the hemodynamic and contributes significantly to postoperative morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the feasibility and the accuracy of tomographic-equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography (t-ERV) for the assessment of patients with LVADs.
  
  
  
  Twenty-four patients with LVAD underwent t-ERV. Because of the limited acoustic window, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was only feasible in 19 patients. Functional evaluation including six-minute walk test (6MWT) and peak oxygen consumption (POC) was performed in 18 patients. Nine patients underwent a cardiac multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Eight patients underwent a second evaluation by ERV 4.3 ± 1.4 months later.
  
  
  
  Reliability between t-ERV and MDCT for LV end-diastolic volume, LV end-systolic volume, LV ejection fraction, RV end-diastolic volume, RV end-systolic volume, and RV ejection fraction (RVEF) was 0.900 (P = .001), 0.911 (P = .001), 0.765 (P = .021), 0.728 (P = .042), 0.875 (P = .004), and 0.781 (P = .023), respectively. There was no correlation between t-ERV and RV systolic parameters assessed by TTE. RVEF was correlated with POC (R = 0.521; P = .027). A cut-off value of 40% for RVEF measured by t-ERV could discriminate patients with poor functional status (P = .048 for NYHA stage; P = .016 for 6MWT and P = .007 for POC).
  
  
  
  t-ERV is a simple, reproducible, and an accurate technique for the assessment of RV function in patients with LVADs and warrants consideration in the evaluation and monitoring of symptomatic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France. lairez@gmail.com.|Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France. lairez@gmail.com.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France. lairez@gmail.com.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. lairez@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lairez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delmas
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fournier
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cassol
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Méjean
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pascal
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.|Department of Radiology, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petermann
authors.affiliation: Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.|Department of Cardiac Surgery, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dambrin
authors.affiliation: Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.|Department of Anesthesiology, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Minville
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Purpan, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carrié
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.|Department of Radiology, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galinier
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Purpan, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roncalli
authors.affiliation: Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.|Department of Cardiac Surgery, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marcheix
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France.|Cardiac Imaging Center, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France.|Medical School of Rangueil, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Berry
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D015637:Gated Blood-Pool Imaging; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015588:Observer Variation; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013318:Stroke Volume; D013599:Systole; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
keywords: Left ventricular assist device; SPECT; cardiac imaging; equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography; right ventricle