Myocardial Flow Assessment After Heart Transplantation Using Dynamic Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography With 201Tl and 99mTc Tracers and Validated by 13N-NH3 Positron Emission Tomography.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is an obliterative and diffuse form of vasculopathy and is the most common cause of long-term cardiovascular mortality in heart transplant patients. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of 99mTc and 201Tl tracers in the assessment of CAV using cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR) quantification, which was further validated using 13 N-NH3 positron emission tomography (PET). METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with prior heart transplantation who underwent CZT SPECT and 13 N-NH3 PET dynamic scans were included in this study. CZT SPECT with 99mTc-sestamibi was used in the first 19 patients and 201Tl-chloride for the remaining patients. To determine the diagnostic accuracy of angiographically defined moderate-to-severe CAV, the analysis included patients who underwent angiographic examinations within 1 year of their second scan. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the patient characteristics between the 201Tl and 99mTc tracer groups. Both 201Tl and 99mTc CZT SPECT-derived stress MBF and MFR values globally and in 3 coronary territories showed good correlations with 13 N-NH3 PET. The 201Tl and 99mTc cohorts did not differ significantly in the correlation coefficients of CZT SPECT versus PET for MBF and MFR, except for stress MBF (201Tl:0.95 versus 99mTc:0.80, P=0.03). 201Tl and 99mTc CZT SPECT were satisfactory for detecting PET MFR <2.0 (201Tl area under the curve, 0.92 [0.71-0.99], 99mTc area under the curve, 0.87 [0.64-0.97]) and angiographically defined moderate-to-severe CAV, and CZT SPECT results were comparable to that of 13 N-NH3 PET (CZT area under the curve, 0.90 [0.70-0.99], PET area under the curve, 0.86 [0.64-0.97]). CONCLUSIONS: This small study suggests that CZT SPECT using 201Tl and 99mTc tracers showed comparable MBF and MFR, and the results correlated well with those of 13 N-NH3 PET. Hence, CZT SPECT with 201Tl or 99mTc tracers can be used to detect moderate-to-severe CAV in patients with prior heart transplantation. However, validation using larger studies is warranted.

A performance comparison of novel cadmium-zinc-telluride camera and conventional SPECT/CT using anthropomorphic torso phantom and water bags to simulate soft tissue and breast attenuation.

PURPOSES: This study was aimed to compare the physical performances of cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) camera and conventional Anger camera. An anthropomorphic torso phantom and water bags to simulate breasts were used to evaluate artifacts arising from soft tissue attenuation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Linear source studies were performed to evaluate extrinsic resolution of CZT camera (Discovery NM 530c, GE) and conventional single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) Anger camera (Symbia T2, Siemens). Three sets of phantom experiments: cardiac phantom only (phantom H), anthropomorphic torso phantom added (phantom T), and torso phantom with water bags attached (phantom B), with Tc-99m were performed on both scanners. Imaging performances were evaluated through count sensitivity, contrast-to-noise ratio, quantitative sharpness profile, wall thickness, perfusion uniformity (measured by standard deviation of perfusion percentage of 20 segments using quantitative perfusion SPECT (QPS) software, Cedars-Sinai), and visual imaging quality (using 20-segment sum defect scores (SDS) of QPS) for CZT camera, conventional SPECT without and with computed tomography transmission attenuation correction (AC). RESULTS: CZT cameras had higher extrinsic resolution than conventional SPECT. Myocardium count sensitivity of CZT camera is about threefold of conventional SPECT. Contrast-to-noise ratios and sharpness profiles are higher on CZT camera but degraded while extracardiac soft tissue presented. Myocardial walls measured on CZT images were thicker. Images of CZT had lower SDS, while AC reduced the differences of SDS between CZT and CC. Perfusion images from CZT had the better uniformity than SPECT without or with AC. Breast attenuation was less prominent on CZT camera than conventional SPECT, while inferior and inferolateral segments still suffer marked soft tissue attenuation on CZT camera. CONCLUSIONS: CZT camera has better physical performance and image quality with less artificial perfusion defects than conventional SPECT. CZT camera also has less breast attenuation than conventional SPECT. However, extracardiac soft tissue may degrade the superior performance of CZT camera, and attenuation correction methods are still needed to solve the attenuation issues in inferior and inferolateral myocardium.