Molecular imaging identifies high-risk patients with heart disease

A study published in the August Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) finds that molecular imaging—a non-invasive imaging procedure—can identify high-risk patients with potentially life-threatening cardiovascular conditions and help physicians determine which patients are best suited for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy.

“If the molecular imaging techniques are used for appropriate selection of ICD candidates, not only overuse but also underuse of ICD could be avoided and the assessment may be shown to be more cost-effective,” said Kimio Nishisato, M.D., a physician in the cardiology division of Muroram City General Hospital, Muroram, Japan, and corresponding author for the study.

According to researchers from Sapporo University, Sapporo, Japan, the study shows that molecular imaging can play an important role in diagnosing and guiding the treatment strategy for arrhythmia, coronary artery disease and heart failure.

“This research holds significant potential for the detection, diagnosis and treatment of many common cardiovascular conditions,” said Tomoaki Nakata, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor at the Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine and director of the Hokkaido Prefectural Esashi Hospital, Japan. “With molecular imaging, physicians can improve patient care by pinpointing the precise location of the disease in order to eliminate the need for invasive medical devices and unnecessary surgical techniques.” Nakata adds that molecular imaging can also reduce unnecessary medical costs by better targeting treatment for each individual patient.

In this study, researchers hypothesized that both the impairment of myocardial perfusion and/or cell viability and cardiac sympathetic innervations are responsible for heart arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. However, there was no established reliable method, including a molecular imaging technique which is highly objective, reproducible and quantitative. The researchers investigated prognostic implications of cardiac pre-synaptic sympathetic function quantified by cardiac MIBG activity and myocyte damage or viability quantified by cardiac tetrofosmin activity in patients treated with prophylactic use of ICD, by correlating with lethal arrhythmic events which would have been documented during a prospective follow-up. Based on these aspects, the study is the first to show the efficacies of the method for more accurate identification of patients at greater risk of lethal arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD).

“Sudden cardiac death due to lethal arrhythmia represents an important health care problem in many developed countries,” said Ichiro Matsunari, M.D., Ph.D., director of the clinical research department at the Medical & Pharmacological Research Center Foundation, Hakui, Japan, and author of an invited perspective also published in the August JNM. “While implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy is an effective option over anti-arrhythmic medications to prevent SCD, the balance of clinical benefits, efficacy and risks is still a matter of discussion.”

Matsunari adds that better, more precise strategies such as the molecular imaging technique used in this study are needed to identify high-risk patients for SCD, who are most likely to benefit from ICD therapy. SCD is often the first manifestation of an underlying disease—but one that current treatments such as ICD cannot always detect. Molecular imaging helps guide diagnosis and treatment as well as helps avoid unnecessary ICD treatment.

Authors of “Impaired Cardiac Sympathetic Innervation and Myocardial Perfusion Are Related to Lethal Arrhythmia: Quantification of Cardiac Tracers in Patients with ICDs” include: Kimio Nishisato, Division of Cardiology, Muroram City General Hospital, Muroran, Japan; Akiyoshi Hashimoto, Tomoaki Nakata, Takahiro Doi, Hitomi Yamamoto, Shinya Shimoshige, Satoshi Yuda, Kazufumi Tsuchihashi and Kazuaki Shimamoto, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan; Daigo Nagahara, Obihiro-Kosei General Hospital, Obihiro, Japan.

Authors of “123I-Metaiodobenzylguanidine Imaging in the Era of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators: Beyond Ejection Fraction” include Ichiro Matsunari, Medical and Pharmacological Research Center Foundation, Hakui, Japan; Junichi Taki, Kenichi Nakajima and Seigo Kinuya, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kanazawa University Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan.

Please visit the SNM Newsroom to view the PDF of the study. To schedule an interview with the researchers, please contact Amy Shaw at (703) 652-6773 or ashaw@snm.org, or Jane Kollmer at (703) 326-1184 or jkollmer@snm.org. Current and past issues of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at http://jnm.snmjournals.org.

About SNM—Advancing Molecular Imaging and Therapy

SNM is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to raising public awareness about what molecular imaging is and how it can help provide patients with the best health care possible. SNM members specialize in molecular imaging, a vital element of today's medical practice that adds an additional dimension to diagnosis, changing the way common and devastating diseases are understood and treated.

SNM's more than 17,000 members set the standard for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine practice by creating guidelines, sharing information through journals and meetings and leading advocacy on key issues that affect molecular imaging and therapy research and practice. For more information, visit http://www.snm.org.