Quantitative blood flow evaluation of vasodilation-stress compared with dobutamine-stress in patients with end-stage liver disease using Rb PET/CT.

Background: Our aim was to determine if end-stage liver disease (ESLD) is associated with an attenuated response to vasodilator-stress or dobutamine-stress using Rb-PET MPI with blood flow quantification.

Methods And Results: Pre-liver transplant patients who had a normal dipyridamole-stress (n = 27) or dobutamine-stress (n = 26) Rb PET/CT MPI study with no identifiable coronary artery calcium were identified retrospectively and compared to a prospectively identified low-risk of liver disease dipyridamole-stress control group (n = 20). The dipyridamole-stress liver disease group had a lower myocardial flow reserve (MFR) (1.

Characterization of 3-Dimensional PET Systems for Accurate Quantification of Myocardial Blood Flow.

Unlabelled: Three-dimensional (3D) mode imaging is the current standard for PET/CT systems. Dynamic imaging for quantification of myocardial blood flow with short-lived tracers, such as Rb-chloride, requires accuracy to be maintained over a wide range of isotope activities and scanner counting rates. We proposed new performance standard measurements to characterize the dynamic range of PET systems for accurate quantitative imaging.

Successful recycling of a previously transplanted heart: another option for limited resources.

We report a case of successful reuse of a previously transplanted heart. The organ was retransplanted 16 days after the initial transplantation into a 60-year-old man who had previously received a left ventricular assist device.

Clinical interpretation standards and quality assurance for the multicenter PET/CT trial rubidium-ARMI.

Unlabelled: Rubidium-ARMI ((82)Rb as an Alternative Radiopharmaceutical for Myocardial Imaging) is a multicenter trial to evaluate the accuracy, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of low-dose (82)Rb perfusion imaging using 3-dimensional (3D) PET/CT technology. Standardized imaging protocols are essential to ensure consistent interpretation.

Methods: Cardiac phantom qualifying scans were obtained at 7 recruiting centers.

Cardiac EASE (Ensuring Access and Speedy Evaluation) - the impact of a single-point-of-entry multidisciplinary outpatient cardiology consultation program on wait times in Canada.

Background: Universal access to health care is valued in Canada but increasing wait times for services (eg, cardiology consultation) raise safety questions. Observations suggest that deficiencies in the process of care contribute to wait times. Consequently, an outpatient clinic was designed for Ensuring Access and Speedy Evaluation (Cardiac EASE) in a university group practice, providing cardiac consultative services for northern Alberta.

Cardiac positron emission tomography: current clinical practice.

In the last two decades, the field of nuclear cardiology has experienced significant progress. The introduction of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging represented a major breakthrough that has significantly contributed to a better understanding of physiology and pathophysiology of several heart diseases. Currently, PET imaging is recognized as a well-established method to assess cardiac perfusion, function, metabolism, and viability.

Cardiac EASE (Ensuring Access and Speedy Evaluation)--design of a single point of entry and a multidisciplinary team to reduce waiting times in the Canadian health care system.

Out-patient cardiac consultation in academic group practices often lacks a coordinated intake process, making it difficult to perform prospective testing or to direct undifferentiated consultations to the cardiologist with the shortest waiting list. We created a programmatic approach, with a single point of entry to improve the efficiency of cardiology consultation, without departing from the Canada Health Act. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of Cardiac EASE.

Supratherapeutic response to ezetimibe administered with cyclosporine.

Objective: To report the case of a patient who underwent orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) and demonstrated a supratherapeutic response to ezetimibe when administered with cyclosporine.

Case Summary: Ezetimibe 10 mg/day was added to the lipid-lowering regimen (atorvastatin 40 mg/day) of a 64-year-old male patient after OHT to achieve a target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level < or = 97 mg/dL, as recommended by national guidelines. After 2 months of ezetimibe, the patient's LDL-C level had decreased by 60% to 51 mg/dL.