Clinical performance and radiation dosimetry of no-carrier-added vs carrier-added 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) for the assessment of cardiac sympathetic nerve activity.

Purpose: We hypothesized that assessment of myocardial sympathetic activity with no-carrier-added (nca) (123)I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) compared to carrier-added (ca) (123)I-MIBG would lead to an improvement of clinical performance without major differences in radiation dosimetry.

Methods: In nine healthy volunteers, 15 min and 4 h planar thoracic scintigrams and conjugate whole-body scans were performed up to 48 h following intravenous injection of 185 MBq (123)I-MIBG. The subjects were given both nca and ca (123)I-MIBG.