Euromedim 2006 :1st European Conference on Molecular Imaging Technology

Comparing assessments of myocardial viability between PET and MRI

11 May 2006, 14:00

1h

Palais du Pharo, Marseille

poster • Biomedical perspectives and technical challenges for morpho-functional imaging (multimodality : PET/CT,SPECT/CT,PET/MRI,SPECT/MRI ...) Poster session : Imaging systems, Molecular Imaging

Speaker

Ms Ching-Ching Yang (Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Yang-Ming University)

Description

There are an increasing number of patients with disabling heart conditions related to left ventricular dysfunction, and two thirds of these cases are the result of coronary artery disease. A reduction of mortality and morbidity may be achieved if these diseases can be diagnosed correctly and treated at an early stage before symptoms occur. It is well established that impaired left ventricular (LV) function does not necessarily represent irreversible tissue injury, because contractile performance can improve after revascularization. Correct assessment of the extent of viable and nonviable myocardium in patients with severely reduced LV ejection fraction (EF) and chronic coronary artery disease is important for clinical decision making, because perioperative mortality and morbidity of these patients are increased. However, it has been shown that patients with dysfunctional but viable myocardium profit most from revascularization. Detection of viability based on assessment of myocardial perfusion and glucose metabolism by PET is presently considered by many study reports. The extent of viable myocardium correlates with improved contractile performance after revascularization and affects both short-term and long-term prognosis. MRI, using gadolinium-based contrast agents, delineates irreversibly damaged myocardium and predicts areas that will not recover functionally after revascularisation. Accurate diagnostic information to identify viable myocardium in patients with LV dysfunction who have viable myocardium is the cornerstone to decrease the mortality and morbidity of these patients. Cardiac positron emission tomography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging are two powerful tools for predicting which patients will have an improved outcome from revascularisation. The aim of this study was to integrate the functional and anatomical information get from PET and MRI in a simulation study, respectively, and could provide diagnostic information clinically by this study in expectation.