Cardiovascular imaging in cardio-oncology.

Advances in cancer treatment have improved in patient survival rate. On the other hand, management of cardiovascular complications has been increasingly required in cancer patients. Thus, cardio-oncology has attracted the attention by both oncologists and cardiologists.

Improvement of motion artifacts using dynamic whole-body F-FDG PET/CT imaging.

Purpose: Serial dynamic whole-body PET imaging is valuable for assessing serial changes in tracer uptake. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the improvement of motion artifacts in patients using serial dynamic whole-body F-fluorodeoxyglyucose (FDG) PET/CT imaging.

Materials And Methods: In 797 consecutive patients, serial 3-min dynamic whole-body FDG PET imaging was performed seven times, at 60 or 90 min after FDG administration.

Current status and perspectives of nuclear cardiology.

Nuclear cardiology has long been used to identify myocardial ischemia for appropriate treatment strategies for stable coronary artery disease (CAD). After the Ischemia Trial, it is time to reevaluate the significance of ischemia assessment. Functional imaging continues to play pivotal role in detecting microcirculatory disturbances.

Four-dimensional quantitative analysis using FDG-PET in clinical oncology.

Positron emission tomography (PET) with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has been commonly used in many oncological areas. High-resolution PET permits a three-dimensional analysis of FDG distributions on various lesions in vivo, which can be applied for tissue characterization, risk analysis, and treatment monitoring after chemoradiotherapy and immunotherapy. Metabolic changes can be assessed using the tumor absolute FDG uptake as standardized uptake value (SUV) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV).

＜Editors' Choice＞ Elective nodal irradiation versus involved field radiotherapy for limited disease small cell lung cancer: a single-institution experience.

Elective nodal irradiation (ENI) and involved field radiotherapy (IFRT) are definitive radiotherapeutic approaches used to treat patients with limited-disease small cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC). However, no solid consensus exists on their optimal target volume. The current study aimed to assess the clinical outcomes of patients with LD-SCLC who received definitive ENI or IFRT.

Association of the extent of myocardial ischemia with outcomes in patients with suspected coronary artery disease in Japan.

Background: There is an ongoing controversy regarding the necessity of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for patients with ischemic heart diseases after the publication of the results of the ISCHEMIA trial. We aimed to evaluate the association of the extent of myocardial ischemia with outcomes in patients with suspected coronary artery disease in Japan.

Methods: From the data of 2780 patients with stable angina who were enrolled prospectively between January 2006 and March 2008 in Japan and had undergone physician-referred non-invasive imaging tests (Japanese Coronary-Angiography or Myocardial Imaging for Angina Pectoris Study), 1205 patients managed with SPECT were stratified by 10 % myocardial ischemia.

A deep learning method for translating 3DCT to SPECT ventilation imaging: First comparison with Kr-gas SPECT ventilation imaging.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of deep learning (DL)-based computed tomography (CT) ventilation imaging (CTVI).

Methods: A total of 71 cases that underwent single-photon emission CT Kr-gas ventilation (SPECT V) and CT imaging were included. Sixty cases were assigned to the training and validation sets, and the remaining 11 cases were assigned to the test set.

Advances in Diagnostic Imaging for Cardiac Sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology, and its clinical presentation depends on the affected organ. Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is one of the leading causes of death among patients with sarcoidosis. The clinical manifestations of CS are heterogeneous, and range from asymptomatic to life-threatening arrhythmias and progressive heart failure due to the extent and location of granulomatous inflammation in the myocardium.

Serial changes in cardiac sympathetic nervous function after transcatheter aortic valve replacement: A prospective observational study using I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine imaging.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) can rapidly improve cardiac sympathetic nervous function (CSNF) within 2 weeks in patients with aortic stenosis (AS). However, whether such short-term improvements will be sustained thereafter remains unclear.

Methods: Patients with severe AS who underwent TAVR between October 2017 and June 2019 were enrolled in this single-center, prospective, observational study.

Comparison between dynamic whole-body FDG-PET and early-delayed imaging for the assessment of motion in focal uptake in colorectal area.

Objectives: Serial changes of focal uptake in whole-body dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) imaging were assessed and compared with those in early-delayed imaging to differentiate pathological uptake from physiological uptake in the colorectal area, based on the change in uptake shape.

Methods: In 60 patients with at least 1 pathologically diagnosed colorectal cancer or adenoma, a serial 3 min dynamic whole-body PET/computed tomography imaging was performed four times around 60 min after the administration of F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to create a conventional (early) image by summation. Delayed imaging was performed separately at 110 min after FDG administration.

Determination of brain tumor recurrence using C-methionine positron emission tomography after radiotherapy.

We conducted a prospective multicenter trial to compare the usefulness of C-methionine (MET) and F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) for identifying tumor recurrence. Patients with clinically suspected tumor recurrence after radiotherapy underwent both C-MET and F-FDG PET. When a lesion showed a visually detected uptake of either tracer, it was surgically resected for histopathological analysis.

Clinical Perspectives of Theranostics.

Theranostics is a precision medicine which integrates diagnostic nuclear medicine and radionuclide therapy for various cancers throughout body using suitable tracers and treatment that target specific biological pathways or receptors. This review covers traditional theranostics for thyroid cancer and pheochromocytoma with radioiodine compounds. In addition, recent theranostics of radioimmunotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and treatment of bone metastasis using bone seeking radiopharmaceuticals are described.

Quantitative FDG PET Assessment for Oncology Therapy.

Positron emission tomography (PET) has unique characteristics for quantitative assessment of tumour biology in vivo. Accumulation of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) may reflect tumour characteristics based on its metabolic activity. Quantitative assessment of FDG uptake can often be applied for treatment monitoring after chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy.

Assessment of biventricular hemodynamics and energy dynamics using lumen-tracking 4D flow MRI without contrast medium.

Background: Biventricular physiological interaction remains a challenging problem in cardiology. We developed a four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and clinically available analysis protocol based on beat tracking of the cardiovascular lumen without contrast medium, which enabled measurement of the biventricular hemodynamics and energetic performance by calculating flow energy loss (EL) and kinetic energy (KE). The aim of this study was to observe the flow patterns and energy dynamics to reveal the physiology of the right and left ventricular systems.

Preoperative Texture Analysis Using C-Methionine Positron Emission Tomography Predicts Survival after Surgery for Glioma.

Background: Positron emission tomography with C-methionine (MET) is well established in the diagnostic work-up of malignant brain tumors. Texture analysis is a novel technique for extracting information regarding relationships among surrounding voxels, in order to quantify their inhomogeneity. This study evaluated whether the texture analysis of MET uptake has prognostic value for patients with glioma.

Elevated serum endothelin-1 is an independent predictor of coronary microvascular dysfunction in non-obstructive territories in patients with coronary artery disease.

Endothelin-1 contributes to the constrictor response of the coronary arteries in patients with ischemia with normal coronary arteries. There is thus increasing evidence that endothelin-1 plays a role in coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD). We investigated whether elevated endothelin-1 is associated with CMD in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Prognostic value of cardiac I-metaiodobenzylguanidine imaging for predicting cardiac events after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Aims: In patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS), cardiac sympathetic nervous (CSN) dysfunction and its improvement after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) have been reported. The prognostic impact of CSN function remains unclear. This study investigated the prognostic value of cardiac I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) imaging for predicting cardiac events after TAVR.