Prognostic value of supine scintigraphic heart function and simultaneous conventional exercise response in patients after myocardial infarction

A total of 240 survivors of one or more myocardial infarctions were consecutively admitted to perform supine exercise radionuclide ventriculography. Within 3 years after the test, 22 died; this group was compared to an age-matched control group of 22 survivors for left and right ventricular function during rest, exercise, and simultaneously assessed exercise performance as well as ECG variables. Evaluation of 3-year survival by linear discriminant analysis revealed an accuracy of 82% for discriminant models using ECG and exercise performance variables. Implementation of resting left ventricular ejection fraction and change of right ventricular ejection fraction during exercise, as well as scintigraphic presence or absence of dyskinesia, improved the accuracy of the model to 91% of correctly classified patients.     

Treatment of resistant distal intestinal obstruction syndrome with a modified antegrade continence enema procedure

We report a case of a patient with CF who had a long history of recurrent distal intestinal obstruction syndrome. She had been treated with conventional treatment including gastrografin, n-acetyl cysteine, Klean prep and Picolax. She underwent a modified antegrade continence enema procedure. She currently irrigates her conduit every 2-3 days. She has had no further symptoms of distal intestinal obstruction syndrome.     

直接冠状动脉内支架安置术和r-SK静脉溶栓治疗急性心肌梗死的对比研究

①目的　比较急性心肌梗死 (AMI)病人直接冠状动脉内支架安置和重组链激酶 (r SK)静脉溶栓治疗的临床疗效。②方法　对初次发病 1 2h以内的 1 0 5例AMI病人 ,随机给予直接冠状动脉内支架安置 (支架组 ,6 0例 )和静脉r SK溶栓 (溶栓组 ,5 5例 )治疗。观察两组梗死相关血管再通成功率、心肌梗死溶栓试验 (TIMI)Ⅲ级血流发生率、平均住院天数、住院病死率 ,出院前二维超声心动图测定并推算左心室射血分数 (LVEF)和梗死区室壁运动指数 (RWMI) ,出院后 6个月病死率、LVEF和RWMI。③结果　支架组与溶栓组相比较 ,梗死相关血管再通率显著提高、TIMIⅢ级血流发生率显著增加、平均住院天数显著缩短、住院病死率显著降低 (χ2 =5 .4 2 4～2 8.931 ,t=7.90 1 ,P <0 .0 5、0 .0 1 ) ;出院前LVEF和RWMI ,两组间存在显著差异 (t =3.2 91、2 .1 2 7,P <0 .0 5、0 .0 1 ) ;出院后 6个月病死率、LVEF和RWMI ,两组比较无显著差异。出院后 6个月LVEF、RWMI与出院前比较 ,支架组与溶栓组均有显著改善 (t=2 .1 92～ 4 .6 1 1 ,P <0 .0 5、0 .0 1 )。④结论　与静脉r SK溶栓治疗相比 ,直接冠状动脉内支架安置术治疗AMI,可更有效地再通梗死相关血管、降低住院病死率、更有效地保护病人心脏功能     

枳鳖胶囊抗大鼠肝纤维化形态学及肝组织Ⅲ型胶原mRNA表达的实验研究

目的:观察枳鳖胶囊抗肝纤维化形态学和Ⅲ型胶原mRNA表达的变化。方法:选择66只健康清洁级SD大鼠,雌雄各半,随机分为:正常对照组,模型组,秋水仙碱组,枳鳖胶囊大、中、小剂量组。以40%四氯化碳花生油皮下注射结合高脂饲料、酒水饮料复合因素诱导大鼠肝纤维化模型。造模结束后,除正常组不予处理外,其他组分别以蒸馏水,秋水仙碱混悬液,高、中、低浓度枳鳖胶囊溶液灌胃,疗程36d。疗程结束后,观察大鼠新鲜肝脏的表面情况、色泽、质地等大体形态,测定肝组织Ⅲ型胶原mRNA的表达,光镜观察肝组织HE染色和网状纤维染色的病理形态学改变。结果:模型组大鼠肝细胞损害、肝脏脂肪变性和胶原纤维增生的程度最显著,Ⅲ型胶原mRNA的表达最强。枳鳖胶囊组上述改变明显减轻,且可抑制Ⅲ型胶原mRNA的表达,疗效优于秋水仙碱组。结论:枳鳖胶囊可较好地保护肝细胞,并能阻止肝纤维化进程甚或逆转肝纤维化病理改变,抑制胶原基因表达,抑制胶原基因表达可能是其抗肝纤维化的作用机理之一。     

Reperfused myocardial infarctions on T1- and susceptibility-enhanced MRI: Evidence for loss of compartmentalization of contrast media

The purpose of this study was to characterize the contrast caused by a susceptibility MRI contrast agents, on spin echo T₂-weighted imaging of reperfused myocardial infarction. Our interest in this model focused on the expected requirement that such agents be compartmentalized in the tissue to cause signal loss on spin echo images, a condition which may not be present in reperfused infarcted myocardium. Accordingly, nine rats were subjected to 2 h of left coronary artery occlusion followed by 3 ± 0.5 h of reperfusion prior to administration of contrast media. Three sets of MR images were acquired: (a) baseline axial images at the midventricle, both T₁-weighted (TR/TE = 300/20) and T₂-weighted (TR/TE = 1500/60); (b) T₁-weighted images after administering a T₁-enhancing agent, Gd-DTPA-BMA (0.2 mmol/kg), to document that contrast media is delivered to the reperfused infarction; and (c) T₂-weighted images after administering the susceptibility agent, Dy-DTPA-BMA (1.0 mmol/kg). Gadolinium-enhanced T₁ images depicted reperfused infarction as regions with greatly enhanced signal intensity compared with unin-farcted myocardium, indicating that contrast agent was delivered to the infarcted zone. Dysprosium-enhanced T₁ images depicted the injury as a region of persistent signal intensity relative to depletion of signal in normal myocardium, consistent with failure of the contrast agent to cause signal loss. Similar infarction sizes were observed for unenhanced T₂-weighted images (33 ± 5%), gadolinium-enhanced T₁ weighted images (36 ± 5%) and postmortem staining (30 ± 6%); strong correlations (r > 0.9) were noted in comparisons of these data. Dysprosium-enhanced images exhibited a smaller region of differential signal presumed to be infarction (20 ± 5%, P < 0.05) and weak correlations (r < 0.75) with the other measurements. We conclude that the smaller infarction depicted on dysprosium-enhanced images is a subregion of the true infarction in which myocardial necrosis is sufficiently advanced that the agent is homogeneously distributed throughout all tissue compartments, preventing T₂*-dependent phase loss on spin echo images.     

Detection of liver fibrosis with magnetic cross-relaxation

The utility of MRI using magnetization transfer (MT) enhanced pulse sequences to diagnose hepatic cirrhosis in a rat model was investigated. Hepatic T₁ was measured with and without MT off-resonance RF pulses in 17 treated and six control rats. The livers were evaluated histologically, and the hydroxyproline content quantitatively measured. We did not find a statistically significant linear correlation between the MR relaxation times and the degree of tissue injury. However, the MR measurements performed with MT were superior to those without differentiating the treated and control groups. Specifically, the T₁ times were 695 ±76 ms for the treated group, versus 748 ± 61 ms in the controls; P= 0.095. The T_1sat times were also lower in the treated group, with statistical significance: 367 ± 51 ms versus 421 ± 38 ms, P = 0.016. Finally, the change in the relaxation rates (the inverse of the relaxation times) with and without saturation were 1.31 ± 0.22 s^?1 (treated group) versus 1.05 ± 0.12 s^?1 (controls), which differed significantly, P= 0.001.     

Phase-sensitive cardiac tagging--REALTAG.

Fully inverting spins, instead of merely saturating them, provides superior contrast for tagging procedures. The resulting improvement in tag contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) yields higher-precision tag detection. Also, thinner slices and hence reduced tag separations can be employed, providing displacement and strain measurements with better spatial resolution. Alternatively, the improved tag contrast can be used to obtain cine images covering a greater portion of the cardiac cycle. The use of standard magnitude reconstruction for images of these inversion tags causes rectification of the negative-valued signals from the tags, confounding the image interpretation. Therefore, a phase-sensitive reconstruction scheme of the inverted tags must be employed. Here we demonstrate the implementation of inverted tags with phase-sensitive reconstruction in a ramped-flip-angle, steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequence.     

A Bayesian iterative transmission gradient reconstruction algorithm for cardiac SPECT attenuation correction

Background  High-quality attenuation maps are critical for attenuation correction of myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography studies. The filtered backprojection (FBP) approach can introduce errors, especially with low-count transmission data. We present a new method for attenuation map reconstruction and examine its performance in phantom and patient data. Methods and Results  The Bayesian iterative transmission gradient algorithm incorporates a spatially varying gamma prior function that preferentially weights estimated attenuation coefficients toward the soft-tissue value while allowing data-driven solutions for lung and bone regions. The performance with attenuation-corrected technetium 99m sestamibi clinical images was evaluated in phantom studies and in 50 low-likelihood patients grouped by body mass index (BMI). The algorithm converged in 15 iterations in the phantom studies. For the clinical studies, soft-tissue estimates had significantly greater uniformity of mediastinal coefficients (mean SD, 0.005 cm⁻¹ vs 0.011 cm⁻¹; P<.0001). The accuracy and uniformity of the Bayesian iterative transmission gradient algorithm were independent of BMI, whereas both declined at higher BMI values with FBP. Attenuation-corrected perfusion images showed improvement in myocardial wall variability (4.8% to 4.1%, P=.02) for all BMI groups with the new method compared with FBP. Conclusion  This new method for attenuation map reconstruction provides rapidly converging and accurate attenuation maps over a wide spectrum of patient BMI values and significantly improves attenuation-corrected perfusion images.     

Three-dimensional magnetic resonance myocardial motion tracking from a single image plane.

Three-dimensional imaging for the quantification of myocardial motion is a key step in the evaluation of cardiac disease. A tagged magnetic resonance imaging method that automatically tracks myocardial displacement in three dimensions is presented. Unlike other techniques, this method tracks both in-plane and through-plane motion from a single image plane without affecting the duration of image acquisition. A small z-encoding gradient is subsequently added to the refocusing lobe of the slice-selection gradient pulse in a slice following CSPAMM acquisition. An opposite polarity z-encoding gradient is added to the orthogonal tag direction. The additional z-gradients encode the instantaneous through plane position of the slice. The vertical and horizontal tags are used to resolve in-plane motion, while the added z-gradients is used to resolve through-plane motion. Postprocessing automatically decodes the acquired data and tracks the three-dimensional displacement of every material point within the image plane for each cine frame. Experiments include both a phantom and in vivo human validation. These studies demonstrate that the simultaneous extraction of both in-plane and through-plane displacements and pathlines from tagged images is achievable. This capability should open up new avenues for the automatic quantification of cardiac motion and strain for scientific and clinical purposes.