Washout of 82Rb as a marker of impaired tissue integrity, obtained by list-mode cardiac PET/CT: relationship with perfusion/metabolism patterns of myocardial viability

Long-term impact of myocardial inflammation on quantitative myocardial perfusion-a descriptive PET/MR myocarditis study

PURPOSE

Whether myocardial inflammation causes long-term sequelae potentially affecting myocardial blood flow (MBF) is unknown. We aimed to assess the effect of myocardial inflammation on quantitative MBF parameters, as assessed by 13N-ammonia positron emission tomography myocardial perfusion imaging (PET-MPI) late after myocarditis.

METHODS

Fifty patients with a history of myocarditis underwent cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging at diagnosis and PET/MR imaging at follow-up at least 6 months later. Segmental MBF, myocardial flow reserve (MFR), and 13N-ammonia washout were obtained from PET, and segments with reduced 13N-ammonia retention, resembling scar, were recorded. Based on CMR, segments were classified as remote (n = 469), healed (inflammation at baseline but no late gadolinium enhancement [LGE] at follow-up, n = 118), and scarred (LGE at follow-up, n = 72). Additionally, apparently healed segments but with scar at PET were classified as PET discordant (n = 18).

RESULTS

Compared to remote segments, healed segments showed higher stress MBF (2.71 mL*min-1*g-1 [IQR 2.18-3.08] vs. 2.20 mL*min-1*g-1 [1.75-2.68], p < 0.0001), MFR (3.78 [2.83-4.79] vs. 3.36 [2.60-4.03], p < 0.0001), and washout (rest 0.24/min [0.18-0.31] and stress 0.53/min [0.40-0.67] vs. 0.22/min [0.16-0.27] and 0.46/min [0.32-0.63], p = 0.010 and p = 0.021, respectively). While PET discordant segments did not differ from healed segments regarding MBF and MFR, washout was higher by ~ 30% (p < 0.014). Finally, 10 (20%) patients were diagnosed by PET-MPI as presenting with a myocardial scar but without a corresponding LGE.

CONCLUSION

In patients with a history of myocarditis, quantitative measurements of myocardial perfusion as obtained from PET-MPI remain altered in areas initially affected by inflammation. CMR = cardiac magnetic resonance; PET = positron emission tomography; LGE = late gadolinium enhancement.

Role of quantitative myocardial blood flow and 13N-ammonia washout for viability assessment in ischemic cardiomyopathy

OBJECTIVE

Positron emission tomography (PET) integrating assessment of perfusion with 13N-ammonia (NH3) and viability with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has high accuracy to identify viable, hibernating myocardium. We tested whether quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and washout (k2) can predict myocardial viability using FDG as standard of reference.

METHODS

In 180 consecutive patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, myocardium was categorized on a segment-level into normal, ischemic, hibernating, and scar. From dynamic images, stress MBF, rest MBF, and k2 were derived and myocardial flow reserve (MFR) and volume of distribution (VD) were calculated.

RESULTS

Across myocardial tissues, all parameters differed significantly. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.564 (95% CI 0.527-0.601), 0.635 (0.599-0.671), 0.553 (0.516-0.591), 0.520 (0.482-0.559), and 0.560 (0.522-0.597) for stress MBF, rest MBF, MFR, k2, and VD. The generalized linear mixed model correctly classified 81% of scar as viable, hibernating myocardium. If the threshold of rest MBF to predict viability was set to 0.45 mL·min-1·g-1, sensitivity and specificity were 96% and 12%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Quantitative NH3 PET parameters have low to moderate diagnostic performance to predict viability in ischemic cardiomyopathy. However, if rest MBF falls below 0.45 mL·min-1·g-1, viability testing by FDG-PET may be safely deferred.

Myocardial Viability Testing by Positron Emission Tomography: Basic Concepts, Mini-Review of the Literature and Experience From a Tertiary PET Center

Ischemic heart disease ranges in severity from slightly reduced myocardial perfusion with preserved contractile function to chronic occlusion of coronary arteries with myocardial cells replaced by acontractile scar tissue-ischemic heart failure (iHF). Progression towards scar tissue is thought to involve a period in which the myocardial cells are acontractile but still viable despite severely reduced perfusion. This state of reduced myocardial function that can be reversed by revascularization is termed "hibernation." The concept of hibernating myocardium in iHF has prompted an increasing amount of requests for preoperative patient workup, but while the concept of viability is widely agreed upon, no consensus on clinical testing of hibernation has been established. Therefore, a variety of imaging methods have been used to assess hibernation including morphology based (MRI and ultrasound), perfusion based (MRI, SPECT, or PET) and/or methods to assess myocardial metabolism (PET). Regrettably, the heterogeneous body of literature on the subject has resulted in few robust prospective clinical trials designed to assess the impact of preoperative viability testing prior to revascularization. However, the PARR-2 trial and sub-studies has indicated that >5% hibernating myocardium favors revascularization over optimized medical therapy. In this paper, we review the basic concepts and current evidence for using PET to assess myocardial hibernation and discuss the various methodologies used to process the perfusion/metabolism PET images. Finally, we present our experience in conducting PET viability testing in a tertiary referral center.

The utility of 82Rb PET for myocardial viability assessment: Comparison with perfusion-metabolism 82Rb-18F-FDG PET

BACKGROUND

82Rb kinetics may distinguish scar from viable but dysfunctional (hibernating) myocardium. We sought to define the relationship between 82Rb kinetics and myocardial viability compared with conventional 82Rb and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) perfusion-metabolism PET imaging.

METHODS

Consecutive patients (N = 120) referred for evaluation of myocardial viability prior to revascularization and normal volunteers (N = 37) were reviewed. Dynamic 82Rb 3D PET data were acquired at rest. 18F-FDG 3D PET data were acquired after metabolic preparation using a standardized hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. 82Rb kinetic parameters K1, k2, and partition coefficient (KP) were estimated by compartmental modeling RESULTS: Segmental 82Rb k2 and KP differed significantly between scarred and hibernating segments identified by Rb-FDG perfusion-metabolism (k2, 0.42 ± 0.25 vs. 0.22 ± 0.09 min-1; P < .0001; KP, 1.33 ± 0.62 vs. 2.25 ± 0.98 ml/g; P < .0001). As compared to Rb-FDG analysis, segmental Rb KP had a c-index, sensitivity and specificity of 0.809, 76% and 84%, respectively, for distinguishing hibernating and scarred segments. Segmental k2 performed similarly, but with lower specificity (75%, P < .001) CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, 82Rb kinetic parameters k2 and KP, which are readily estimated using a compartmental model commonly used for myocardial blood flow, reliably differentiated hibernating myocardium and scar. Further study is necessary to evaluate their clinical utility for predicting benefit after revascularization.