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Biomedical subjects

M J Lipton

Publications and source records attributed to M J Lipton.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Left ventricular segmental volume by conductance catheter and Cine-CT.

The ability of the conductance catheter method to measure left ventricular segmental and total volume was evaluated by comparison with the Cine-CT technique. In the seven dogs studied, 19 conductance catheter and simultaneous Cine-CT runs were obtained. High correlation coefficients were found for total volume and segmental volumes, except in the basal segment. However, in most cases there was a significant variability in slope and intercept between animals. Both methods are promising tools for estimating dynamic segmental left ventricular volume, each having specific advantages such as a continuous signal (conductance catheter) or anatomic detail (Cine-CT). However, the results also show the need for further improvement of both methods.

Animals

Left atrial volume determination by biplane two-dimensional echocardiography: validation by cine computed tomography.

Left atrial (LA) volume measurements have been made by the application of the method of discs (modified Simpson's rule) to orthogonal biplane atrial echocardiographic images. Validation of the technique has been suboptimal due to deficiencies of the reference standard, levophase angiography. To define the accuracy of echocardiography, we compared LA end-systolic volume by echocardiography in 27 patients with volumes by cine computed tomography (Cine CT), a highly accurate and validated method of measuring cardiac chambers. Echocardiographic tracings were made in the apical long-axis two- and four-chamber views. In patients with atria less than 300 ml, 14 had echoes performed prospectively, with optimization of LA size, while the remaining 10 were analyzed retrospectively. The volume of each slice was calculated and was then summated to obtain total volume. The correlation coefficient between two-dimensional echocardiography and Cine CT was r = 0.98, and it was r = 0.82 when patients with atria greater than 300 ml (n = 3) were excluded. Echocardiography underestimated Cine CT measurements by 23%. The slope of the prospective group was closer to unity than the slope of the retrospective group (p less than 0.001), and the correlation with Cine CT was slightly better for the prospective group (r = 0.88 versus r = 0.77). LA volume by two-dimensional echocardiography correlates closely with Cine CT, a more accurate method of volume determination, and gives valid measurements of LA volume. Efforts to maximize LA size during scanning limit inaccuracies of echocardiographic measurements of the left atrium.

Echocardiography

Left and right ventricular diastolic function during acute pericardial tamponade.

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of acute pericardial tamponade on left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) intracavitary and transmural pressure-volume (P-V) relations and to assess the effect of changing blood volume during tamponade on LV and RV volumes. The experiments were done in 11 acutely instrumented anaesthetized dogs in which LV and RV volumes were determined by computed tomography (CT) (n = 5) and LV and RV diameters by sonomicrometry (n = 6). Pressures were measured in the pericardium (balloon transducer), in the aorta and in the ventricles. Incremental pericardial infusion (up to 180 ml) caused a progressive left and upward shift of the LV and the RV intracavitary P-V relationship. This shift was entirely due to increased pericardial pressure (PP). The induction of tamponade caused no change in the LV and RV transmural P-V relationship. During tamponade with ventricular filling pressures above 10-15 mmHg, blood volume expansion caused only minimal increase in LV and RV volumes. In conclusion, pericardial tamponade shifted the LV and the RV intracavitary diastolic P-V relation by increasing PP. However, there was no change in the transmural P-V relationship, indicating unchanged myocardial compliance. Volume loading caused only minimal increase in LV and RV volumes during tamponade.

Animals

Computed tomography for patient management in coronary artery disease.

Computed tomography (CT) represents the optimum theoretical approach to x-ray imaging. This conclusion results from an awareness of CT's capacity to solve the fundamental limitation of all forms of x-ray imaging--the superimposition of anatomic structures. Because CT is potentially a fully three-dimensional method, this problem is addressed in a manner not subject to the risks, complications, and technical limitations of selective angiography, subtraction angiography, tomography, and other techniques. Ultrafast CT provides a broad spectrum of useful quantitative cardiac data during one minimally invasive procedure. Therefore, the optimism for cine CT imaging of the heart is well founded. Apart from the demonstration of anatomic structures in any reconstructed plane and in movie format, without the need for any form of electrocardiographic gating, this new generation of millisecond CT scanners offers a unique potential for measuring myocardial mechanics and perfusion. Myocardial integrity can be evaluated by measuring myocardial wall thickening, which is a sensitive indicator of blood flow. It can also be assessed by time-density changes derived from analyzing the passage of contrast medium through thin slices of myocardium. Feasibility studies have demonstrated that this should be possible in the clinical setting by use of fast CT scanning. The radiation exposure to the patient with cine CT is low and comparable to, or less than, that of conventional CT and 10-15% of that received during angiocardiography; therefore, it is not a practical limitation. Further clinical and research studies are needed to determine the future role of this exciting new modality in the diagnosis and management of patients with heart disease.

Chronic Disease

Varying tracheal cross-sectional area during respiration in infants and children with suspected upper airway obstruction by computed cinetomography scanning.

An ultrafast cinetomography computed tomographic scanner (cine-CT) was used to evaluate infants and children (n = 15) with suspected obstruction of the larynx or trachea. One scan sequence provided a single image at each of eight cross-sectional levels (volume-mode study). Each study, lasting 224 ms, covered the distance between the supraglottic area and the carina. Each patient also underwent a "dynamic" study at a specific level of interest determined from the volume-mode study. Forty images within 2.3 s covered at least one respiratory cycle. The images were displayed as a closed-loop movie and dynamic changes in laryngeal and tracheal caliber with respiration were monitored and quantitated. Tracheal boundaries were outlined either by a trackball-guided cursor (freehand) or semi-automated computer edge detection, and cross-sectional areas and diameters were determined. Reproducibility was tested among three investigators' freehand drawings and two automated computer drawings, at the same and at varying image intensities. The coefficient of variation for the computer-assisted records (0.2%) was smaller than for the best freehand drawing (1.5%). Tracheal diameters were reproducible, but with greater intra-individual investigator variability. Four normal tracheas had close to published measurements with conventional CT scanners. Cine-CT gives objective tracheal dimensions and their variation during respiration; it provides good anatomical detail above the carina, and also of the extra- and intra-thoracic vessels if injected with contrast medium.

Adolescent

Cine-computed tomographic assessment of regional renal blood flow.

The new modality of cine-computed tomography was used to assess regional renal blood flow following hemorrhagic hypotension and administration of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF). As has also been established with other techniques, hypotension induced by hemorrhage caused cortical blood flow to fall from 5.3 (SD 0.8) to 2.1 (SD 1.1) ml.min-1g-1 (p less than 0.005; n = 7) proportionally more than inner medullary blood flow which fell from 0.45 (SD 0.24), to 0.26 (SD 0.08) ml.min-1g-1 (p less than 0.05) so that the ratio of the cortical to inner medullary blood flow decreased from 11.8 (SD 4.8) to 8.2 (SD 5.1) (p less than 0.01). In contrast, during natriuresis induced by ANF, cortical blood flow was unaltered (5.8, SD 1.1, vs 5.4, SD 0.9 ml.min-1g-1; NS; n = 5) while inner medullary blood flow declined from 0.66 (SD 0.13) to 0.51 (SD 0.11) (p less than 0.005) so the ratio of cortical to inner medullary blood flow increased from 8.8 (SD 1.3) to 10.9 (SD 1.7) (p less than 0.005). These results indicate that cine-CT appears to be an appropriate technique for demonstrating changes in distribution of intrarenal blood flow. Cine-CT may, therefore, be an attractive alternative for measuring regional renal blood flow.

Animals

A model of acute regional myocardial ischemia and reperfusion in the rat.

Studies were conducted in 76 rats to describe and validate a new closed-chest in vivo model for acute ischemia and reperfusion of the left coronary artery. Radiolabeled microsphere distribution in six rat hearts confirmed a significant reduction in arteriolar flow at the center of the ischemic zone (93% reduction of total myocardial counts compared to nonischemic region, P less than 0.01) after 7 min of occlusion. Arteriolar flow returned to control values upon reperfusion. While hemodynamic parameters in 10 rats during 7 min of occlusion and 7 min of reperfusion were monitored, end diastolic pressures increased significantly (P less than 0.01) during occlusion. Finally, the utility of this rat model was demonstrated in a study of contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (N = 4). Normal myocardium could not be differentiated from acutely ischemic myocardium on noncontrast-enhanced MR images. After 5 min of myocardial ischemia and following contrast administration (albumin-Gd-DTPA), the ischemic zone appeared less enhanced than normal myocardium. Upon release of the occluder the left ventricular free wall once again yielded a homogeneous signal similar to that of the normal myocardium.

Animals

Quantitative density-time measurements in the lungs of children with suspected airway obstruction using ultrafast CT.

Fourteen children under 3 years of age with possible airway obstruction were evaluated with an ultrafast CT scanner, Imatron C-100. Serial 0.05-second multilevel scans were obtained through the chest at rates of 17 images per second. No patient sedation or contrast medium was used. Time-density curves generated over each lung and specific pulmonary zones were compared to characterize the normal variation of density during inspiration and expiration and to determine abnormal patterns associated with airway obstruction. There was a high, positive correlation value (r greater than 0.79) between time/density curves over those pulmonary regions in which there was no focal bronchial obstruction and a low, negative correlation value (r = less than -0.58) with bronchial obstruction. Three studies with reconstruction artifacts were excluded. Furthermore, the results indicate that young children generally have denser lungs, particularly in expiration, than older children or adults. This preliminary study suggests that ultrafast CT offers a promising, unique, rapid and noninvasive approach for diagnosing airway obstruction in childhood.

Airway Obstruction

Value of ultrafast CT scanning in cardiology.

Computed tomography became available in 1973 and within a few years was accepted as a useful diagnostic technique in nearly every organ system. The heart, however, was the exception because long exposures (over 1 second) produced motion blurred images. Although ECG gating was possible it proved impractical. Conventional CT nevertheless has been undervalued by most radiologists and cardiologists who have little or no experience with cardiac CT. The recent development of Ultrafast CT should rapidly change this concept.

Cardiac Volume

Evaluation of ultrafast CT scanning of the adult abdomen.

Various measures of image quality were compared from adult abdomen scans obtained with a subsecond computed tomographic (CT) scanner (Imatron Ultrafast C-100) and a conventional third-generation whole-body scanner (GE9800). Forty images from 13 patients scanned within 2 hours of each other on both scanners were evaluated with techniques standardized as much as possible for CT exposure factors and contrast enhancement. Two observers in consensus evaluated matched anatomic levels using standard window width and level settings. Each image was graded on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best) for spatial resolution, image noise, and presence and type of artifacts. Overall image quality also was graded. Averaged scores were compared between the two scanners. In all categories, scores were slightly higher for the GE9800. However, the differences in spatial resolution, presence of artifacts, overall image quality were not significant using the sign test. There was a significant difference, in favor of the GE9800, in image noise. The types of artifacts differed; the GE9800 produced more motion artifacts from bowel and surgical clips and the Imatron C-100 produced more rib shadow artifacts projecting on the liver and spleen. While the GE9800 produced abdominal images of slightly superior quality in adults, the Imatron Ultrafast C-100 was shown to produce images suitable for routine abdominal imaging in adults.

Adult

Acute myocardial ischemia and reperfusion: MR imaging with albumin-Gd-DTPA.

The utility of a macromolecular, intravascular contrast agent, albumin-gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), for the differentiation of acutely ischemic and reperfused myocardium on magnetic resonance (MR) images was investigated. Regional, reversible myocardial ischemia was produced in rats and confirmed. After reperfusion, flow to the compromised myocardial segment returned to baseline. Normal myocardium could not be differentiated from ischemic myocardium on nonenhanced MR images (n = 12). After 5 minutes of myocardial ischemia and after administration of albumin-Gd-DTPA, the ischemic zone involving the free wall of the left ventricle was characterized by the absence of significant enhancement. Normal myocardium appeared homogeneously enhanced (by 145%). This pattern persisted for up to 1 hour of myocardial ischemia. In six rats that underwent myocardial reperfusion after 5 minutes of ischemia, the normal and reperfused myocardium became isointense. Radiotracer studies with albumin-Gd-153-DTPA confirmed the decreased distribution of contrast agent to the ischemic myocardium, possibly due to decreased blood pool or a blocked primary delivery system in the ischemic myocardium.

Animals

Determination of left ventricular mass with ultrafast CT and two-dimensional echocardiography.

Conventional methods for determining mass of the left ventricle (LV) require geometric assumptions. Eleven patients were studied with ultrafast computed tomography (CT) and with two-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo) for calculation of LV mass. With ultrafast CT, calculations were performed on end-systole images and end-diastole images for each patient. Comparisons of the results from ultrafast CT with those from 2-D echo were made with linear, Spearman rank, and interclass correlation coefficients, as well as with slope and intercept values of regression lines. Adequate ultrafast CT and 2-D echo studies were obtained in nine of the 11 patients. After the systolic and diastolic ultrafast CT determinations of LV mass were averaged, the results demonstrated excellent agreement with the 2-D echo determinations (slope = 1.0 +/- 0.20, r = .89, P less than .002).

Adult

Assessment of myocardial salvage after ischemia and reperfusion using magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.

To test the hypothesis that contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) can differentiate reversible from irreversible myocardial injury, these modalities were used to study ischemia and reperfusion in a rat model. The presence of ischemia and reperfusion were confirmed with radiolabeled microspheres (n = 6). Groups of animals were subjected to either 16 (n = 17), 30 (n = 14), 60 (n = 11), or 90 (n = 14) minutes of left coronary artery (LCA) occlusion and 60 minutes reperfusion. After albumin-gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA injection, contrast-enhanced, T1-weighted, spin-echo proton images were acquired at baseline and every 16 minutes during LCA occlusion and reperfusion. In separate experiments, 31phosphorus (31P) spectra were acquired at similar time points during ischemia and reperfusion. After 16 minutes occlusion, normally perfused myocardium enhanced significantly compared with ischemic myocardium on MRI (104 +/- 7.9% vs. 61 +/- 11.0%, p less than 0.05, n = 5, mean +/- SEM, % of baseline value). MRS showed reduced phosphocreatine (PCr) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (58.8 +/- 2.4%, p less than or equal to 0.01; 81.4 +/- 2.4, p less than or equal to 0.01, n = 12). After 16 or 30 minutes ischemia, reflow resulted in uniform MRI signal intensity of the ischemic zone compared with normal myocardium (93.5 +/- 11.3 vs. 80.9 +/- 7.0, p = NS, n = 11, % of baseline value at 30 minutes reperfusion) and PCr recovery on MRS (94.3 +/- 4.0%, p = NS, n = 20, % baseline value at 30 minutes reflow). After 60 and 90 minutes ischemia, reflow resulted in marked enhancement of reperfused compared with normal myocardium on MRI (254.0 +/- 30.0 vs. 78.3 +/- 9.2, p less than or equal to 0.01, n = 10) and no recovery of PCr on MRS (64.1 +/- 3.0, p = NS, n = 14). Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining revealed transmural myocardial infarction (MI) in all hearts subjected to 60 or 90 minutes ischemia and reflow, and small nontransmural MIs in only 2/11 hearts subjected to 16 or 30 minutes ischemia and reperfusion. Thus, 1) MRI with albumin-Gd-DTPA is useful for identifying myocardial ischemia by enhancing the contrast between normally perfused and ischemic myocardia; 2) MRI with albumin-Gd-DTPA is useful for identifying reperfusion after myocardial ischemia; and 3) after reperfusion, reversible can be distinguished from irreversible myocardial injury by characteristic findings on MRI and MRS.

Albumins

Ultrafast cardiac CT scanning.

Computerized tomography (CT) represents the optimal theoretic approach to x-ray imaging. Ultrafast CT is an emerging imaging modality that has been shown to be highly applicable to quantitative determinations of ventricular mass, right and left ventricular volumes, and global and regional left ventricular function in a variety of cardiac pathologic states. This article examines the clinical capability of ultrafast CT and attempts to answer some concerning questions that may be raised.

Animals