DNA damage and repair in patients undergoing myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography.

As patient exposure to ionizing radiation from medical imaging and its risks are continuing issues, this study aimed to evaluate DNA damage and repair markers after myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (MPS). Thirty-two patients undergoing Tc-99m sestamibi MPS were studied. Peripheral blood was collected before radiotracer injection at rest and 60-90 min after injection. The comet assay (single-cell gel electrophoresis) was performed with peripheral blood cells to detect DNA strand breaks. Three descriptors were evaluated: the percentage of DNA in the comet tail, tail length, and tail moment (the product of DNA tail percentage and tail length). Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was performed to evaluate the expression of five genes related to signaling pathways in response to DNA damage and repair (ATM, ATR, BRCA1, CDKN1A, and XPC). Mann-Whitney's test was employed for statistical analysis; p < 0.05 was considered significant. Mean Tc-99m sestamibi dose was 15.1 mCi. After radiotracer injection, comparing post-exposure to pre-exposure samples of each of the 32 patients, no statistically significant differences of the DNA percentage in the tail, tail length or tail moment were found. qPCR revealed increased expression of BRCA1 and XPC, without any significant difference regarding the other genes. No significant increase in DNA strand breaks was detected after a single radiotracer injection for MPS. There was activation of only two repair genes, which may indicate that, in the current patient sample, the effects of ionizing radiation on the DNA were not large enough to trigger intense repair responses, suggesting the absence of significant DNA damage.

Evaluation of DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation from myocardial perfusion imaging: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: As patient exposure to ionizing radiation raises concern about malignancy risks, this study evaluated the effect of ionizing radiation on patients undergoing myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using the comet assay, a method for detection of DNA damage. METHODS: Patients without cancer, acute or autoimmune diseases, recent surgery or trauma, were studied. Gated single-photon myocardial perfusion imaging was performed with Tc-99m sestamibi. Peripheral blood was collected before radiotracer injection at rest and 60-90 min after injection. Single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) was performed with blood lymphocytes to detect strand breaks, which determine a "comet tail" of variable size, visually scored by 3 observers in a fluorescence microscope after staining (0: no damage, no tail; 1: small damage; 2: large damage; 3: full damage). A damage index was calculated as a weighted average of the cell scores. RESULTS: Among the 29 individuals included in the analysis, age was 65.3 ± 9.9 years and 18 (62.1%) were male. The injected radiotracer dose was 880.6 ± 229.4 MBq. Most cells (approximately 70%) remained without DNA fragmentation (class 0) after tracer injection. There were nonsignificant increases of classes 1 and 2 of damage. Class 3 was the least frequent both before and after radiotracer injection, but displayed a significant, 44% increase after injection. CONCLUSION: While lymphocytes mostly remained in class 0, an increase in class 3 DNA damage was detected. This may suggest that, despite a probable lack of biologically relevant DNA damage, there is still a need for tracer dose reductions in MPI.