Improvement of cardiac neuronal function after carvedilol treatment in dilated cardiomyopathy: a 123I-MIBG scintigraphic study.

Unlabelled: Carvedilol can induce important clinical and hemodynamic improvements in patients with chronic heart failure resulting from severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. This study examines the impact of carvedilol on cardiac neuronal function using 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with chronic heart failure (19 men, 3 women; mean age, 54 y; age range, 34-64 y) assessed as New York Hospital Association (NYHA) class II or III and with initial resting radionuclide LV ejection fractions (LVEF) < 0.

The reversibility of cardiac neuronal function after removal of a pheochromocytoma: an I-123 MIBG Scintigraphic Study.

Purpose: Twelve patients with proved pheochromocytoma evaluated in our institution between 1991 and 1997 are described.

Methods: The patients' urinary excretion rates and their metabolites (vanylmandelic acid and metanephrines) were significantly greater than normal before surgery. Echocardiography showed normal left ventricular ejection fractions (72% +/- 8%).

Contribution of laboratory tests, scintigraphy, and histology to the diagnosis of lower limb joint replacement infection.

Objective: To evaluate the contribution of laboratory tests, histology and scintigraphy for diagnosing and monitoring the treatment of lower limb arthroplasty infection.

Patients And Methods: 37 lower limb arthroplasties, 20 at the hip and 17 at the knee, were studied. Investigations included laboratory tests for inflammation (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, haptoglobin, and orosomucoid), histology (presence of neutrophils) and scintigraphy (99m Tc-HMDP bone scan, colloidal sulfide bone marrow scan, and 99m Tc-HMPAO leukocyte scan).

Iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine SPECT of regional cardiac adrenergic denervation in Brugada syndrome.

We present the case of 44-yr-old man who presented syncope with ventricular tachycardia in the setting of Brugada syndrome. In addition to the electrocardiographic evidence of the syndrome and the absence of apparent structural heart disease, clear defects of myocardial neuronal metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) uptake on MIBG SPECT imaging also were found in inferior, apical and septal walls. Thallium-201 SPECT distribution was homogeneous along the left ventricle.

Contribution of intercellular links to ultrasonic absorption of liver tissue.

The method discussed aims to characterize the ultrasonic absorption of liver tissues between 3 and 8.75 MHz by the slope of its linear variation with frequency. A transmission measuring device has been used and a data processing system has directly calculated this slope, which is reduced when the strength of intercellular links are lessened by mild treatment with trypsin, although the cells are left intact.