The effects of 3-month atorvastatin therapy on arterial inflammation, calcification, abdominal adipose tissue and circulating biomarkers.

Purpose: (18)F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT has the potential to track vascular inflammation and monitor therapeutic response. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between arterial inflammation, calcification and serological biomarkers in subjects with atherosclerosis, and to assess their therapeutic response to 12-week atorvastatin treatment.

Methods: Forty-three statin-naïve subjects with atherosclerosis received atorvastatin (40 mg/day) for 12 weeks and underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT, coronary calcification and abdominal adipose tissue volume measurements.

Association of circulating matrix metalloproteinase-1, but not adiponectin, with advanced coronary artery disease.

Objective: Recent evidence suggests that high tissue matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and low adiponectin may serve as biomarkers of atherosclerosis. Results on the associations of circulating MMP-1 and adiponectin concentrations are scarce. We hypothesized that patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) have elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), MMP-1 but low adiponectin levels, and concomitant measurements of these biomarkers could improve predictive strength for advanced CAD.

High serum level of matrix metalloproteinase-1 and its rapid surge after intervention in patients with significant carotid atherosclerosis.

High tissue matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity has been reported to be associated with atherosclerosis and plaque rupture. The aim of this study was to elucidate the diagnostic value of serum MMP-1 in carotid stenosis and its dynamic change after stenting. We measured high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and MMP-1 in 37 patients with carotid stenosis (>or= 50%) and 84 controls.

Enhanced diagnosis of coronary artery disease in women by dobutamine thallium-201 ST-segment/heart rate slope and thallium-201 myocardial SPECT.

Background/purpose: The diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in women presents a great challenge because of poor exercise capacity and inadequate heart rate response during stress test. The clinical significance of stress-related ST-segment/heart rate slope (ST/HR slope) value for evaluating CAD in women remains controversial. Therefore, we conducted the present study to assess the diagnostic performance of dobutamine ST/HR slope in women, compared with myocardial perfusion study using thallium-201 single-photon emission computed tomography (Tl-201 SPECT).

Characterization of plaques using 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with carotid atherosclerosis and correlation with matrix metalloproteinase-1.

Unlabelled: High tissue matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity has been associated with advanced atherosclerosis and plaque rupture. 18F-FDG uptake has been reported to detect inflammation. This investigation examined the vascular 18F-FDG uptake by PET/CT and its correlation with circulating MMP-1 levels.

Extensive scar myocardium in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with severe myocardial bridge.

We present a patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and a large scar in the apex demonstrated on 201Tl SPECT and 18F-FDG PET images. Subsequent coronary angiography revealed no significant coronary artery stenosis but a myocardial bridge with severe systolic milking in the middle segment of the left anterior descending artery.

99mTc-HL91 is inferior to 201Tl in scintigraphic detection of chronic myocardial ischaemia.

Aim: 99mTc-HL91 is a new hypoxia agent and can identify acutely ischaemic viable myocardium in a canine model using a standard gamma camera. The purpose of the study was to determine whether this tracer could be used to detect regional ischaemia in chronic ischaemic myocardium in a swine model.

Method: Using a porcine model of chronic myocardial ischaemia, five mini-pigs with proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD) stenoses were studied.

Usefulness of progressive inhomogeneity of myocardial perfusion and chronotropic incompetence in detecting cardiac allograft vasculopathy: evaluation with dobutamine thallium-201 myocardial SPECT.

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the value of longitudinal follow-up of dobutamine thallium-201 single photon emission tomography ((201)Tl SPECT) in the development of significant cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) after orthotopic heart transplantation.

Methods: We studied 38 cardiac recipients (mean age 57 +/- 12 years) who underwent at least two follow-up dobutamine (201)Tl SPECT since January 1998. All patients had normal coronary angiography and normal left ventricular function initially.

Assessment of myocardial viability using F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose/Tc-99m sestamibi dual-isotope simultaneous acquisition SPECT: comparison with Tl-201 stress-reinjection SPECT.

Background: This study compared technetium 99m sestamibi/fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose dual-isotope simultaneous acquisition (DISA) with stress-reinjection thallium 201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with regard to their ability to detect myocardial viability.

Methods And Results: The study cohort consisted of 42 angiographically significant coronary artery disease patients with symptomatic congestive heart failure or regional wall motion abnormalities. In total, 398 dysfunctional segments in 40 patients were analyzed (2 patients were excluded because of poor-quality F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose images).

Diagnostic and prognostic value of dobutamine thallium-201 single-photon emission computed tomography after heart transplantation.

Background: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a major cause of mortality in heart transplant recipients. We investigated the diagnostic and prognostic value of dobutamine thallium-201 ((201)Tl) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in heart transplant recipients.

Methods: We studied 47 patients (age 51.

The relation between myocardial cyclic variation of integrated backscatter and serum concentrations of procollagen propeptides in hypertensive patients.

Cyclic variation of integrated backscatter (IBS), or CVIBS, provides a noninvasive method to measure myocardial collagen deposition and ischemia in hypertensive patients. We hypothesized that serum procollagen propeptides can offer additional values to CVIBS for evaluating cardiac changes related to fibrosis or ischemia. A total of 21 patients were enrolled in this study and were divided into three groups according to the presence of hypertension and serum carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP) concentration; these were: 7 hypertensive patients with PICP > or = 127 microg/L (group 1), 7 hypertensive patients with PICP < 127 microg/L (group 2), 7 normotensive subjects with PICP < 127 microg/L (group 3).

Value of circulating adhesion molecules in assessing cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

Circulating adhesion molecules have been implicated in the development of spontaneous and transplant coronary artery disease. We analyzed soluble (s) intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1), and sE-selectin levels from the coronary sinuses of 25 cardiac allograft recipients, and we correlated these molecules with the degree of acute rejection detected in endomyocardial biopsy specimens and the presence of transplant vasculopathy assessed with coronary angiography. We found that sVCAM-1 significantly increased in patients with transplant vasculopathy compared with those without transplant vasculopathy, whereas sE-selectin and sICAM-1 did not.

The correlation between expression of apoptosis-related proteins and myocardial functional reserve evaluated by dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

The relation between myocardial functional changes and the apoptosis-related proteins in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has not yet been reported. The purpose of this study was to assess this issue through the use of dobutamine stress echocardiography. A total of 81 segments of left ventricles (from 6 patients with DCM) were collected in this study.

Tl-201 myocardial SPECT in differentiation of ischemic from nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

Background: The differentiation between ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy by noninvasive modalities is of clinical importance. Whether thallium 201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) could accurately distinguish the two groups remains unclear.

Methods And Results: Twenty-nine patients with chronic heart failure (left ventricular ejection fraction < or =40%), including fourteen patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and fifteen patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, underwent Tl-201 SPECT.

Assessment of zebrafish cardiac performance using Doppler echocardiography and power angiography.

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a new animal model for cardiac researches. Although it is equipped with a prototypical vertebrate heart, the zebrafish studies for cardiac mutations and genetic control of development can reveal some hints for solving human problems. Despite the simplicity of the zebrafish heart, the objective parameters of cardiac performance are not easily available, except for the morphological description, due to its small size.

Assessment of quality of life in a double-blind, randomized clinical trial of imidapril and captopril for hypertensive Chinese in Taiwan.

Purpose: Although the role of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors for the treatment of hypertension has been well established, no data has been generated regarding the influence of ACE inhibitors for health-related quality-of-life (QOL) dimensions for Chinese patients.

Materials: A double-blind, active-control, randomized clinical trial was used to compare the effects of two ACE inhibitors, imidapril and captopril, on quality-of-life dimensions in one outpatient clinic in one tertiary clinical-care facility. After a 2-3 week washout period with placebo, 59 patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension were randomly assigned to receive imidapril (5 to 10 mg per day) or captopril (25 to 50 mg twice per day) for 12 weeks.

Assessment of menopause-induced myocardial changes by integrated backscatter during inotropic stimulation and atropine injection.

Estradiol has been considered as an L-type calcium channel blocker in animal studies. The concentration of estradiol decreases after menopause. Therefore, we hypothesized that human myocardial functional changes developed after menopause, and those changes could be evaluated through the use of cyclic variation of integrated backscatter (CVIBS).