Acute improvement of cardiac efficiency measured by 11C-acetate PET after cardiac resynchronization therapy and clinical outcome.

The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of (11)C-acetate positron emission tomography (PET) for assessing the efficacy of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Enrolled in this study were 20 patients with severe heart failure. All patients underwent 11C-acetate PET within 1 week after CRT.

Positron emission tomographic demonstration of myocardial oxidative metabolism in a case of left ventricular restoration after cardiac resynchronization therapy.

A 65-year-old man with a history of coronary artery bypass grafting was admitted because of severe heart failure. Echocardiography showed diffuse severe hypokinesis of the left ventricle (ejection fraction 25%) and severe mitral regurgitation caused by tethering of the leaflet secondary to left ventricular (LV) dilation. He underwent mitral valve annuloplasty and LV papillary muscle imbrication, but postoperative sustained ventricular tachycardia developed and echocardiography showed ventricular dyssynchrony with a long septal-to-posterior wall motion delay (>130 ms).