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R Itti

Publications and source records attributed to R Itti.

90 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Dynamic cardiac scintigraphy with a multi-imaging device.

Cardiac kinetics can be visualized in two ways after i.v. injection of radiopharmaceutics for labeling either the myocardium or the cardiac chambers. The simpler way is the acquisition of the data in analog mode, using a multiimaging device. Thanks to a short time constant for the image advance, the cardiac cycle is divided into 16 frames, the first being triggered by the R wave of the ECG. The data of a large number of synchronized cycles are integrated on a film. This permits an almost continuous way to follow the kinetics of the studied compartments along the cycle. Several views can be registered successively. This procedure yields separately immediate information on the morphology and dynamics of the myocardium, and chambers. To evaluate quantitatively various parameters of left ventricular function a data processor is connected to the gamma camera. Examples of the two types of data are shown and demonstrate that both are useful for appreciating the value of kinetics though they are not yet accurate enough to replace in every case contrast radiologic techniques. Nevertheless, the indications for these procedures are continuously growing, due to technical progresses and the noninvasive nature of the investigation.

Angiocardiography

[Study of congenital cardiopathies with left-right shunt using gamma-angiocardiography].

Red blood cells labelled with radioactive Technetium were injected intravenously, and the passage of the tracer through the cardio-pulmonary system recorded using a scintillation camera coupled with a numerical dosimeter. The results are presented as serial analoque pictures taken at the rate of two per second, as numerical tracings which are later processed, and as flow charts from predetermined areas of interest: the chambers of the heart, the lung parenchyma, and the aorta. This study is concerned with 58 patients with a left-to-right shunt, and about 40 normal examinations were used as a baseline for comparison. In cases of left-to-right shunt, the finding on the tracings is of abnormally prolonged activity in the lungs after a normal passage through the right side. The intensity-duration curves highlight this finding, and show an early recirculation peak in the right side of the heart and a slowing of pulmonary emptying, which can be evaluated numerically from the ratio C2/C1. A correlation has been found between this value and the ratio of pulmonary to systemic flow as calculated by oximetry. The correlation is even closer if a comparison is made between the curves of pulmonary radioactivity and the dye dilution curves. In certain cases, the shunt can be localised to the atrial or ventricular level. There are many indications for this safe investigation: --the diagnosis and monitoring of the flow through a left-to-right shunt in a child; --confirmation of the closure of septal defects after surgery; --clarification of an infudibulo-pulmonary syndrome.

Adolescent

[Intracerebral hematoma in gamma-angio-encephalography].

The radionuclide angiography, of gamma-angio-encephalography (gamma-A.E.G.), a non invasive method, is able to bring specific information for the diagnosis of intracerbral hematoma (I.C.H.). In 25 out of 32 verified cases of I.C.H. the rapid sequential imaging shows from the arterocapillary time a deeply seated avascular area, which is a quite different aspect from the defect observed in ischemic A.C.V., or malignant tumors. The transit curves confirm the regional of circulating blood pool.

Brain Neoplasms

Single photon emission computed tomography of the heart: a functional image?

Images of radioactive tracer uptake are mainly functional images since the tracer distribution may directly be related to the regional variations in function, such as myocardial perfusion in the case of thallium-201 single photon tomography. Combination of pictures obtained in different physiological conditions (stress-rest, for instance) enhance the functional aspects of these studies. For gated cardiac blood pool images, on the contrary, labelling of the circulating blood pool using technetium-99m provides morphological pictures of the heart chambers and function can only be derived from the dynamic analysis of the image sequence recorded at the successive phases of the cardiac cycle. The technique of 'thick slice' tomography preserves the relationship between count rates and local volumes of radioactive blood. Parametric imaging therefore applies to tomography as well as to plane projections. In the simplest case reconstruction of the extreme phases of the heart beat, end-diastole and end-systole may be sufficient. But to achieve more sophisticated functional analysis such as Fourier phase mapping, reconstruction of the whole cardiac cycle is necessary.

Erythrocytes

Myocardial single-photon emission computed tomographic imaging with technetium 99m tetrofosmin: stress-rest imaging with same-day and separate-day rest imaging.

BACKGROUND: Technetium 99m tetrofosmin is a new ethylene diphosphine ligand for myocardial perfusion imaging and has unique properties. We have compared stress-rest single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) imaging with 99mTc tetrofosmin with same-day and separate-day rest imaging to detect myocardial perfusion defects. METHODS AND RESULTS: Myocardial SPECT imaging was performed in 22 patients with coronary artery disease who had undergone planar thallium 201 imaging and coronary angiography. Single-day (stress-rest) and separate-day rest 99mTc tetrofosmin SPECT protocols were compared in the same patient. Images were assessed by a blinded panel to identify myocardial infarction, ischemia, or normal scans. Overall sensitivity for identification of patients with coronary artery disease was 86% (19/22) by both same-day stress-rest and separate-day rest protocols with 99mTc tetrofosmin (p = NS). Of a total of 396 segments studied, 107 abnormal segments were identified at exercise and 76 and 81 at the same-day and separate-day rest tests, respectively (p = NS). Same-day stress-rest and separate-day rest 99mTc tetrofosmin SPECT protocols were also useful for detecting individual coronary stenosis with a greater than 50% lesion: 80% of the left anterior descending, 93% of the right coronary, and 75% of the left circumflex coronary arteries were detected. CONCLUSION: Excellent images were obtained with 99mTc tetrofosmin during both stress and rest. 99mTc tetrofosmin imaging with the same-day stress-rest and separate-day rest imaging protocols have similar diagnostic sensitivities for detection of coronary heart disease.

Aged

Theoretical model for myocardial functional characterization: application to a group of patients evaluated before and after surgical revascularization.

BACKGROUND: The functional improvements resulting from coronary revascularization (CABG) in patients with depressed ventricular function may be described by the use of a model combining global or local quantification of myocardial perfusion, viability, and contraction. An illustration of this model, with data provided by conventional radionuclide studies as they are performed routinely in many centers, is presented and the limitations of this approach for predicting the results of CABG are discussed. METHODS AND RESULTS: The model is based on three independent variables, which can be approximated in this preliminary study by parameters derived from standard stress and redistribution/reinjection thallium-201 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) acquisitions with quantification of the tracer uptake defects and from a planar gated blood pool left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) measurement: Perfusion is assumed to correspond to 100-stress defect (in percentage), viability is 100-redistribution/reinjection defect, and contraction is 100(LVEF/70), assuming that a normal 70% LVEF corresponds to 100% contraction. In a group of 30 patients prospectively evaluated with this protocol and included in the study on the basis of a pre-CABG LVEF <40%, a significant improvement in LVEF was demonstrated (28.2% +/- 8.5% before CABG vs 35.8% +/- 7.3% after CABG), which is accompanied by a significant decrease of the stress thallium defects (34.8% +/- 13.8% vs 25.6% +/- 10.6%), whereas the average (but not the individual) redistribution/reinjection defects remain almost stable (27.7% +/- 10.9% vs 25.7% +/- 10.1%). As reported in the three-dimensional model, pre-CABG and post-CABG representative points clearly demonstrate the functional improvements for the main variables, but there is a large spectrum of responses to revascularization. It appears that the border between reversible and nonreversible thallium defects does not match the limit between ischemic myocardium (with no contraction alteration and therefore without contraction improvement potential) and hibernating myocardium, which is able to recover mechanical function and therefore is responsible for the improvement of global LVEF. CONCLUSIONS: Thallium SPECT is far from ideal for use as an independent characterization of perfusion and viability because hibernating myocardium may be present in both the fixed and reversible parts of thallium defects. Prediction of functional recovery is conditioned by an accurate identification of viable but underperfused and noncontracting myocardium. In the future, with the use of adequate study protocols that are able to measure viability without interference of perfusion and perfusion independent of viability, the proposed model may be able to characterize regional function as a cluster of representative points for each territory and to delineate areas of the theoretical volume corresponding to a potentially recoverable situation.

Adult