Nuclear - Essentials of Cardiac PET, Perfusion, Viability Flashcards
Define positron range
distance the positron is required to travel within the tissue medium before undergoing annihilation
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How does positron range correlate with image resolution?
- Longer positron range = lower (worse) resolution
- Shorter positron range = higher resolution
What are the benefits of cardiac PET:
- Radiotracers
- Superior extraction
- Short t 1/2
- Lower radiation dose
- Wide array of tracers
What are the benefits of cardiac PET:
- Image Quality
- Accurate AC
- High temporal and spatial resolution
- 3D tomographic imaging
- Sensitive (nano/picomolar)
- Quantitative
What are the benefits of cardiac PET:
- Evidence Base
- Diagnosis
- Risk assessment
What are the available Cardiac PET Radiotracers?
- Perfusion
- Rb82 and Ammonia N13
-
Metabolism
- FDG18
Describe the features of Rb-82
- How produced
- Half-life
- Positron range
- Stress type
- Image quality
- FDA approval
- Generator
- 76 seconds (shortest)
- β+ range - 1.6mm (long)
- Phamacological
- Very good quality
- FDA approved
Describe the features of N-13
- How produced
- Half-life
- Positron range
- Stress type
- Image quality
- FDA approval
- Cyclotron
- 9.96 minutes
- β+ range - 0.28mm
- Pharm > Exercise (only tracer available for exercise)
- Excellent quality
- FDA approved
What is a cyclotron?
an apparatus in which charged atomic and subatomic particles are accelerated by an alternating electric field while following an outward spiral or cicrular path in a magnetic field
Describe the features of O-15
- How produced
- Half-life
- Positron range
- Stress type
- Image quality
- FDA approval
- Cyclotron
- 2.09 minutes
- β+ range - 0.5mm
- Pharmacological
- Uninterpetable quality
- Not FDA approved
****most well extracted radiotracer
Describe the features of FDG F-18
- How produced
- Half-life
- Positron range
- Stress type
- Image quality
- FDA approval
- Cyclotron
-
109.7 minutes (unit doses)
- can be shipped to other sites for use
- β+ range - 0.1 mm
- Investigational for perfusion
- Excellent quality
- FDA approved
What are the advantages of 3D PET?
- Higher sensitivity (4-6 fold higher than 2D)
- Lower radiotracer dose
- Lower radiation exposure
- Potential cost savings
What are the challenges with 3D PET?
- Higher scatter (30-40% vs. 10-15% for 2D)
- Effective sensitivity is lower (randoms, scatter, camera dead time)
- More processing time and disc space
What is one difference in 2D and 3D PET scanning?
no collimator used in 3D PET
- most newer generation scanners are only 3D
What is the value of LVEF calculation in PET scanning?
- Useful in evaluating
- magnitude of myocardium at risk
- extent of angiographic CAD
- LVEF decreases (rest –> stress)
- marker of significant LM or 3vCAD
What is the difference in diagnostic accuracy between PET and SPECT?
PET > SPECT
- Specificity
- PET = 81.3%
- SPECT = 76%
- Sensitivity
- PET = 92.6%
- SPECT = 88.4%
What is the relative radiation dose with PET?
- F-18 FDG
- N-13 Ammonia
- Rb-82
- Tc 99m
- Tl 201`
- N-13 Ammonia = 2.5 mSv
- Rb-82 = 3.9 mSv
- Tc 99m = 9 mSv
- F-18 FDG = 14 mSv
- Tl 201 = 25 mSv
What is the best use of CFR/MFR in clinical practice?
-
Excellent Negative Predictive Value
- MFR >2 –> NPV 97%
- Differentiating between:
- Incomplete vasodilation
- Balanced ishemia
-
Normal scan
- CFR flow will increase from rest to stress in total and all vessels –> confirming a normal scan
Why is CFR/MFR useful in excluding severe CAD?
-
Excellent Negative Predictive Value
- MFR >2 –> NPV 97%
What MFR value should be considered a high-risk feature on MPI PET?
MFR < 1.5
- Angiography may be necessary
What MFR value portends extremely low risk in PET MPI?
MFR > 2
Define Hibernating myocardium
- dysfunctional myocardium that has the potential to improve function after revascularization
- Characterized by:
- functionally by an improvement of contractile function with reperfusion or inotropic (dobutamine) stimulation
- metabolically by a switch from fat to glucose metabolism, accompanied by reactivation of the fetal gene program
What is a hallmark of hibernating myocardium on myocardial viability assessment?
perfusion-metabolism mismatch
What does a normal perfusion study at rest in the setting of low LVEF indicate?
What is the next step?
presence of myocardial viability
- low LVEF is not being driven by scar
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Describe the steps in a Rest/Stress-FDG Viability: PET-CT Protocol
- Rest and/or Stress Perfusion
- Glucose manipulation - 60-90 minutes
- Trutol (oral glucose)
- Based on BG levels –> IV insulin to drive glucose intracelluarly
- Blood glucose < 150 –> proceed to next step
- 10-15 mCi FDG injection
- Cellular uptake - 60 minutes allowed
- FDG imaing - 15 minutes
What the the optimal candidates to evaluate for myocardial viability?
Fixed defects on MPI
- Perfusion/Metabolism mismatch –> Hibernating myocardium
- Perfusion/Metabolism match –> Scarred myocardium
What is the next step in this patient?
What is the diagnosis?
Stress study (dobutamine)
- normal resting perfusion = viable myocardium
Myocardial stunning - severe CAD
- Severe defect of LAD territory - completely reversible at rest
- may be cause of CHF
What are the most sensitive and specific methods for tracing cardiac metabolism?
- Perfusion
- more sensitive
- less specific
- Contractile function
- more specific
- less sensitive
What are the most sensitive and specific methods for imaing myocardial viability?
- Sensitivity
- Perfusion techniques > contractile assessments
- Most sensitive: FDG PET
- Most specific: DSE
If perfusion assessment is good, why metabolic imaging?
- myocardial blood flow cannot distinguish viable from non-viable segments
- among segments classificed as non-viable in the thallium study, 23-35% (R-R, or R-R-RI) are classified as viable by FDG PET
Describe why is FDG-F18 an excellent tracer for PET viability testing?
- Hypoxia, ischemia, insulin –> overexpression of GLUT 4 receptors
- causes increased uptake of glucose / FDG-F18
- hibernating cells consume more glucose/FDG-F18 than normal cells
- Fatty acid metabolism (β-oxidation) extremely sensitive to hypoxia
- Hibernating myocytes do not utilize fatty acids –> selective overuse of glucose
What causes increased glucose uptake in cardiac myocytes?
GLUT 4 translocation/overexpression
- hypoxia
- ischemia
- insulin
Why perform glucose loading and insulin administration?
to improve uptake in normal segments that serve as reference
Describe the glucose-loaded states in viability testing (myocardial blood flow, myocardial FDG-glucose loaded, regional function):
- Normal
- Hibernating myocardium
- Scar
- Stunning
What are factors inversely related to recovery of function following revascularization?
- Baseline LVEF (lower is worse)
- Magnitude of myocardial scar (larger is worse)
- Degree of remodeling of the LV (larger is worse)
- Time to revascularization (delay > 42 days is worse)
What is the threshold of viable myocardium at which early revascularization is more beneficial than that of medical therapy?
> 10% viable myocardium
What are the validated applications of PET MFR?
- Identify microvascular dysfunction
- Improve assessment of balanced ishcemia and extensive CAD
- Assess response to therapy
What is the modality of choice for quantifying myocardial scar?
CMR