Comparison of carbon-11-acetate with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose for delineating viable myocardium by positron emission tomography.

Objectives: This study was designed to determine in patients with advanced coronary disease whether prediction of recovery of mechanical function after coronary revascularization could be accomplished more effectively by positron emission tomography (PET) with carbon-11 (11C)-acetate than by PET with fluorine-18 (18F)-fluorodeoxyglucose.

Background: Results of previous studies have demonstrated that preservation of myocardial oxidative metabolism (measured by PET with 11C-acetate) is necessary for recovery of systolic function after coronary revascularization.

Methods: Myocardial oxidative metabolism was quantified before revascularization in 34 patients by the analysis of the rate of myocardial clearance of 11C-acetate.

Functional recovery after coronary revascularization for chronic coronary artery disease is dependent on maintenance of oxidative metabolism.

Objectives: This study was performed to define the importance of maintenance of oxidative metabolism as a descriptor and determinant of functional recovery after revascularization in patients with left ventricular dysfunction attributable to chronic coronary artery disease.

Background: Although myocardial accumulation of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose indicates the presence of tissue that is metabolically active, it may not identify those metabolic processes required for restoration of myocardial contractility. Experimental studies suggest that, under conditions of ischemia and reperfusion, maintenance of myocardial oxidative metabolism is an important metabolic determinant of the capacity for functional recovery.

Dependence of recovery of contractile function on maintenance of oxidative metabolism after myocardial infarction.

This study was performed to define the importance of maintenance of oxidative metabolism as a descriptor and determinant of the potential for functional recovery after revascularization in patients with recent myocardial infarction. In 11 patients (mean interval after infarction 6 days; 5 patients given thrombolytic therapy), positron emission tomography (PET) was performed to characterize myocardial perfusion (with oxygen-15-labeled water), glucose utilization (with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose) and oxidative metabolism (with carbon-11-acetate). Dysfunctional but viable myocardium was differentiated from nonviable myocardium by assessments of regional function before and after coronary revascularization.

Hospital-wide distribution of nuclear medicine studies through a broadband digital network.

Nuclear medicine provides a good environment for the evaluation of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) because of the relatively small quantity of digital data that are generated, leading to reduced requirements for storage, display, and transmission compared with those found in radiology. The PACS in nuclear medicine is characterized by use of a single computer as a central storage, display, and analysis node. Images are acquired with use of small, low-cost computers attached to each camera.

Three-dimensional display of gated cardiac blood-pool studies.

There has been little interest in use of single photon tomography in gated cardiac blood-pool imaging. This fact arises most likely from two principal causes: the difficulty associated with interpretation of images presented as series of beating slices, and the formidable computational burdens involved in processing the data. We have addressed both of these issues.