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Improved Prediction of Major Cardiac Events by Gated Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

  • Cardiac Nuclear Imaging (A Cuocolo, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Recent advances in gated SPECT (G-SPECT) procedures for simultaneous quantitative analysis of perfusion and function have facilitated the clinical use for assessment of inducible ischemia, viability, and event risks in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. G-SPECT functional information can incrementally improve diagnostic powers of clinical information and stress SPECT perfusion data for risk-stratification of patients into low- and high-risk categories. The application of G-SPECT has been extended from asymptomatic patients at clinically high risk for cardiac disease to patients with advanced heart failure with left ventricular dyssynchrony. Clinical outcomes predicted by G-SPECT variables include not only cardiac death and nonfatal myocardial infarction but also de novo heart failure or heart failure requiring cardiac resynchronization therapy. Thus, a G-SPECT approach can contribute to better risk-stratification and to appropriate selection of prophylactic or therapeutic strategy in a cost-effective manner in patients at an increased risk for future cardiac events.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mark Travin, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, for his scientific advice on this article.

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Tomoaki Nakata and Akiyoshi Hashimoto declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors

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Correspondence to Tomoaki Nakata.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiac Nuclear Imaging

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Nakata, T., Hashimoto, A. Improved Prediction of Major Cardiac Events by Gated Myocardial Perfusion Imaging. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 7, 9264 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-014-9264-2

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