Stress Myocardial Blood Flow Heterogeneity Is a Positron Emission Tomography Biomarker of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) are at increased risk of sudden cardiac death. Abnormalities in myocardial blood flow (MBF) detected by positron emission tomography (PET) are common in HC, but a PET marker that identifies patients at risk of sudden cardiac death is lacking. We hypothesized that disparities in regional myocardial perfusion detected by PET would identify patients with HC at risk of ventricular arrhythmias. To test this hypothesis, we quantified global and regional MBFs by 13NH3-PET at rest and at stress, and developed a heterogeneity index to assess MBF heterogeneity in 133 symptomatic patients with HC.

Source: The American Journal of Cardiology - February 6, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dai-Yin Lu, Hulya Yal çin, Fatih Yalçin, Min Zhao, Sanjay Sivalokanathan, Ines Valenta, Abdel Tahari, Martin G. Pomper, Theodore P. Abraham, Thomas H. Schindler, M. Roselle Abraham Source Type: research