[MRI of ischemic heart disease].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Tsunehiko Nishimura.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
UNLABELLED: The distribution of radioiodinated metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) has been studied primarily in patients with neuroendocrine tumors-in pediatrics, particularly with neuroblastomas. Sometimes, symmetric accumulation in which no tumor is identified is seen in the nape-of-the-neck region. We estimated visually whether accumulation was found in the nape of the neck and studied the characteristics of the accumulation. METHODS: Retrospectively, we investigated 266 (123)I-MIBG scintigraphic studies performed on pediatric patients who had been treated for neuroendocrine tumors or who were suspected of having such tumors. RESULTS: Accumulation in the nape of the neck was seen in 32 of 266 studies (12%); in none of these cases was the accumulation identified as a tumor by other imaging modalities or follow-up studies. In the same individuals, the accumulation varied and it was observed more often during winter. CONCLUSION: Symmetric (123)I-MIBG accumulations in the nape-of-the-neck region observed in children are thought to be related to the uptake in brown adipose tissue.
Inflammation and cell death are two important components of myocarditis. We evaluated the distribution of inflammation and apoptotic cell death in rats with autoimmune myocarditis using two radiotracers - technetium-99m Hynic-annexin V ((99m)Tc-annexin) as a marker of apoptotic cell death and carbon-14 deoxyglucose ((14)C-DG) as a marker of inflammation - in comparison with histologic findings. Three, 7 and 14 weeks after immunization with porcine cardiac myosin (acute, subacute, and chronic phases, respectively) (99m)Tc-annexin and (14)C-DG were injected. The uptake in the total heart was determined as the percentage of injected dose per gram (% ID/g) by tissue counting. Dual-tracer autoradiography with (99m)Tc-annexin and (14)C-DG was performed. The distribution of each of these agents was compared with the results of hematoxylin and eosin staining to identify areas of inflammation, and TUNEL staining to identify areas of apoptosis. Total cardiac uptake of (99m)Tc-annexin in the acute phase of myocarditis was significantly higher than that in normal rats (1.28%+/-0.30% vs 0.46%+/-0.01%; P<0.0001); it then decreased in the subacute phase and reached normal levels (0.56%+/-0.08% vs 0.60%+/-0.08%; P=NS). Total cardiac uptake of (14)C-DG in the acute phase of myocarditis was significantly higher than that in normal rats (2.78%+/-0.95% vs 1.02%+/-0.25%; P<0.0001); it then decreased in the subacute phase, but still remained higher than in controls (2.06%+/-0.52% vs 1.37%+/-0.46%; P<0.05). Using autoradiography and staining of tissue specimens, it was found that most histologic inflammatory foci corresponded to areas of high (14)C-DG uptake; some also corresponded to areas of high (99m)Tc-annexin uptake in the acute phase of myocarditis. (99m)Tc-annexin localization was strongly correlated with the number of TUNEL-positive cells (P<0.0001, r=0.83), but the uptake of (14)C-DG showed no relationship with it. There is a marked difference in the distribution of inflammation and apoptotic cell death in the myocardium of animals with immune myocarditis. These changes are mirrored by the localization of (14)C-DG and (99m)Tc-annexin. Sites of inflammation and zones of apoptotic cell death change over the course of immune myocarditis.
Conventional teleradiology is a useful tool, but sometimes we have found it to be an insufficient means of investigation because the radiological specialists cannot indicate the imaging protocol during the investigation. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of real-time teleradiology, which will improve the quality of medical management. Ten radiologists evaluated thoracic CT scans of 50 patients transmitted through teleradiology retrospectively. We evaluated whether or not the contrast enhancement study was performed effectively on the basis of the clinical data and after interpretation of the pre-contrast scans. The clinical data showed that 47.6% of the CT contrast enhancement examinations were not necessary. After interpretation of the pre-contrast CT scans, 66.6% of the contrast-enhanced scans were considered unnecessary. Real-time teleradiology will improve the quality of medical management providing the virtual presence of radiologists, and will save medical costs.
Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of a new method in approaching the access route percutaneously for the implantable port-catheter system for repeated hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy. Fifteen patients underwent port-catheter system placement via the left subclavian artery with the catheter tip fixed within the gastroduodenal artery with embolic materials and a catheter side hole opening to the common hepatic artery. Before port-catheter placement, the right gastric artery was embolized via the femoral catheter access. Then a 0.035-in. guide wire was inserted from the right femoral artery to the left subclavian artery. The guide wire was left in place during puncture by the needle as an access route for catheter placement. At the time of puncture, the tip of the puncture needle was aimed at the guide wire placed in the subclavian artery beforehand. In all 15 patients the procedure was successfully completed in a reasonable time (mean time 95.0 min, range 50-240 min). Complications occurred in two patients: a transient numbness of the arm in 1 patient and a mild hematoma detected in the subcutaneous pocket in another patient. This experience indicates the possibility of using a targeting guide wire in puncture of the subclavian artery as an access route for catheter placement.
The effects of systemic administration of rolipram, a selective phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor, on [(3)H]2-deoxyglucose (DG) uptake in brain and peripheral tissues were examined. Rolipram significantly and dose-dependently decreased [(3)H]DG uptake in brain, heart and skeletal muscle. In contrast, the radioactivity concentrations in the plasma of rolipram-treated mice were significantly higher than those of control mice at all times after injection of the tracer. In the kinetic study, the initial uptake of [(3)H]DG in brain was decreased by rolipram, whereas no significant differences were observed in the uptake in heart and skeletal muscle. However, radioactivity concentrations in the brain, heart and skeletal muscle 30 min after the injection of [(3)H]DG were significantly lowered by rolipram to about 60%, 10% and 10% of control values, respectively. The uptake of [(13)N]ammonia in brain and heart of rolipram-treated mice was slightly decreased, which indicated that rolipram diminished both cerebral and cardiac blood flow. These results indicate that the phosphorylation process via hexokinase rather than the transport of [(3)H]DG might be depressed by rolipram. Together with the previous observations that inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) markedly enhanced [(14)C]DG uptake in rat brain, these results indicate an important role of the cAMP/PKA systems in the regulation of glucose metabolism in the living brain as well as in peripheral tissues such as the heart and skeletal muscle.
OBJECTIVES: We measured plasma atrial/brain natriuretic peptide (ANP/BNP) levels at rest and during exercise and correlated the results with various clinical findings, particularly with myocardial ischemia, in asymptomatic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). BACKGROUND: In patients with HCM, ANP and BNP levels are elevated and exercise-induced myocardial ischemia is common. However, it has not yet been elucidated how these levels at rest and their change with dynamic exercise are related to ischemia. METHODS: Levels of ANP and BNP were measured at rest and at peak exercise during (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin scintigraphy in 31 asymptomatic patients with non-obstructive HCM and in 10 control subjects. RESULTS: Levels of ANP and BNP at rest and the change of ANP and BNP levels (PG/ML) from rest to exercise were significantly greater in HCM than in control subjects (ANP: rest, 53.2 +/- 31.8 vs. 11.6 +/- 6.1; exercise, 114.5 +/- 74.8 vs. 28.3 +/- 23.4. BNP: rest, 156.7 +/- 104.1 vs. 9.8 +/- 9.6; exercise, 201.6 +/- 131.5 vs. 13.2 +/- 14.5). Septal perforator compression (SPC) and exercise-induced ischemia were observed, respectively, in 20 (64.5%) and in 19 (61.3%) patients with HCM. The increment of ANP during exercise was similar between HCM subgroups with or without inducible ischemia. However, BNP levels at rest and BNP increments during exercise were significantly greater in the HCM subgroup with inducible ischemia than in the subgroup without (rest, 190.5 +/- 116.2 vs. 103.1 +/- 48.3; exercise, 250.5 +/- 142.2 vs. 124.2 +/- 58.6). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that SPC and BNP levels at rest were independently associated with exercise-induced ischemia. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of plasma BNP levels at rest may be useful in predicting silent myocardial ischemia in HCM.
We report a 70-year-old woman with hepatic encephalopathy due to an intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt that was successfully occluded by percutaneous transcatheter embolization with n-butyl cyanoacrylate and microcoils.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The effect of MK-801, a noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist, on both in vivo and in vitro binding of [(125)I]beta-CIT (RTI-55) was investigated in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. The binding experiments were performed 2 weeks after unilateral intranigral microinjection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). In the in vitro binding study, no alterations in [(125)I]beta-CIT binding in rat brain sections were observed after addition of MK-801, 0.03 microM or 3 microM, to the incubation medium. However, in vivo [(125)I]beta-CIT binding to the dopamine transporter in both nonlesioned and 6-OHDA-lesioned striatum was significantly increased by pretreatment with MK-801. In vivo [(125)I]beta-CIT binding to the serotonin (5HT) transporter in nonlesioned cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and thalamus was also significantly increased by MK-801. However, the degree of change in the specific binding of [(125)I]beta-CIT induced by MK-801 was smaller in the lesioned cerebral cortex. Kinetic analysis, by a simplified three-compartment model with the cerebellum as the reference region, revealed that these alterations in the in vivo [(125)I]beta-CIT binding induced by MK-801 were mainly due to changes in the rate constants of in vivo binding, the input rate constant, k(3), and the output rate constant, k(4). These results indicate that the glutamatergic system significantly affects the function of dopamine transporters in the degenerated dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease.
The effect of rolipram, a selective phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor, on the uptake of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) in tumor tissue was examined in mice transplanted with NFSa fibrosarcoma. The uptake indexes of 18F-FDG in the heart, skeletal muscle and brain remarkably decreased after treatment with 3 mg/kg of rolipram (heart: 13%, skeletal muscle: 14%, brain: 31%), but fibrosarcoma tissue showed only a 50% reduction in the uptake index of 18F-FDG. The tumor/muscle ratio of radioactivity 30 min after 18F-FDG injection was consequently enhanced from 1.9 to 6.5 by rolipram. This indicates the possible use of rolipram to enhance the sensitivity of tumor detection, as well as characterization of tumors in 18F-FDG PET.
OBJECT: This study was designed to assess the value of gated SPECT Tc-99m-tetrofosmin (TF) wall thickening (WT) in addition to TF exercise (Ex)/rest myocardial SPECT, in comparison with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET. METHODS: The study population consisted of 33 patients with old myocardial infarction (27 men and 6 women; mean age, 62 +/- 8 years old). All patients underwent Ex/rest TF SPECT and glucose loading FDG-PET. Polar map images of Ex/rest TF were generated and divided into 24 segments for further analysis. We classified LV segments according to the exercise-rest perfusion scintigraphy. LV segments with less than 70% of the maximum TF activity on the exercise image were defined as stress-induced defects. Among these, the segments whose TF activity increased by 10% from exercise to rest images or exceeded 70% of the maximum uptake were defined as reversible (viable) defects. The remaining defects on the rest image were irreversible (non-viable) defect segments, and were considered for viability study on the basis of %WT. %WT was calculated according to the standard method: [(counts ES - counts ED)/counts ED] x 100. A viable segment on gated SPECT was defined as a segment whose %WT exceeded the lower limit of the normal value (mean - SD). PET viability was defined as FDG uptake exceeding 50% of the maximum count. RESULTS: Among the 792 segments evaluated in the 33 patients studied, there were 689 PET viable segments. Of the 689 segments analyzed, 198 (29%) were identified as having defects on Ex images. Among these defects, 55 (8%) were reversible or partially reversible, as evidenced by rest images, and 143 (21%) were irreversible. Of the irreversible segments on Ex/rest images, 106 (15%) demonstrated no apparent WT by gated TF SPECT, whereas 37 (6%) segments with irreversible defects did have apparent WT. Overall, the sensitivity of Ex/rest TF perfusion imaging was 79%. Sensitivity was improved from 79% to 85% by combining %WT and perfusion data, but specificity was reduced from 70% to 56%. CONCLUSION: %WT evaluated from gated TF imaging enhanced myocardial viability assessment in comparison with FDG-PET.
MS-209 is a newly synthesised multidrug-resistance (MDR)-reversing agent with few side-effects. In this study, we evaluated the effect of MS-209 on P-glycoprotein (Pgp)-positive tumours in mice by means of technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) imaging. Mice received Pgp-negative KB-3-1 or Pgp-positive KB-C1 cell xenografts. KB-3-1-bearing mice were administered 0 or 100 mg/kg of MS-209 (groups S0 and S100, respectively), and KB-C1-bearing mice 0, 50, 100 or 200 mg/kg (groups R0, R50, R100 and R200, respectively), 30 min before imaging studies. Dynamic 99mTc-MIBI images were acquired for 30 min, followed by biodistribution studies. Washout of 99mTc-MIBI from the tumours was faster in group R0 than in group S0 on visual analysis, and the washout half-time estimated by region of interest analysis was shorter in group R0 than in group S0. Biodistribution studies revealed that 99mTc-MIBI accumulation in tumours (expressed as %ID/g) was also lower in group R0 than in group S0. MS-209 delayed the 99mTc-MIBI washout from KB-C1 tumours. Washout half-time was longer in groups R50, R100 and R200 than in group R0. A higher %ID/g was observed in groups R100 and R200 than in group R0. In KB-3-1 tumours, MS-209 had no effect on the washout half-time or the %ID/g. This study demonstrated that MS-209 increases the 99mTc-MIBI accumulation in Pgp-positive tumours. The MDR-reversing effect of MS-209 could be effectively evaluated with 99mTc-MIBI visually and non-invasively in vivo. 99mTc-MIBI imaging with MS-209 prior to chemotherapy should contribute significantly to the treatment strategy in patients with multidrug-resistant tumours.
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The authors' purpose was to elucidate the various computed tomographic (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings in intracranial aspergillosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of cranial imaging findings was performed in eight proved cases of central nervous system aspergillosis. The patients ranged in age from 17 to 75 years. Four patients were immunocompromised, and four were immunocompetent. CT was performed in all eight patients, and MR imaging in five. RESULTS: Six patients (75%) had multiple lesions seen on the imaging studies, with a total of 27 focal brain lesions demonstrated. The lesions were most commonly seen in the cerebral hemispheres (n = 21), with lesser involvement of the basal ganglia (n = 2) and the posterior fossa (n = 4). Seven lesions were hemorrhagic on CT and/or MR images. There was a correlation between lesion size and hemorrhage, with hemorrhage more likely in larger lesions (>15 mm). At pathologic examination, foci of hemorrhage were noted within both infarcts and abscesses. Enhancement was noted in five lesions, four of which were confirmed abscesses. Contrast enhancement of the lesions was vague and week in immunocompromised patients but solid and strong in immunocompetent patients. There were 18 lesions without hemorrhage or enhancement; they were either infarcts or abscesses at pathologic examination. Some of these small nonhemorrhagic nonenhancing brain lesions in the subcortical white matter mimicked lacunar infarcts. CONCLUSION: Typical imaging findings of intracranial aspergillosis include multifocal lesions involving the cerebral hemispheres, with hemorrhage in approximately 25% of lesions. Lesional contrast enhancement tends to be stronger in immunocompetent hosts.
PURPOSE: N-isopropyl-p[I-123]iodoamphetamin (IMP) is transiently taken up by the lungs after intravenous injection and its concentration in arterial blood varies depending on the degree of I-123 IMP uptake and subsequent washout. A method that does not require arterial blood sampling would be valuable to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) using I-123 IMP. METHODS: The authors developed a new theory and a convenient new method of CBF determination using I-123 IMP that does not require blood sampling. Dynamic images of the head and chest were acquired immediately after intravenous injection of I-123 IMP in a series of 42 consecutive patients with cerebrovascular disorders or other brain diseases (31 men, 11 women; mean age, 58 +/- 11 years). Changes in the I-123 IMP counts of the regions of interest set in the head and pulmonary trunk were analyzed by the graph plot method, and the F values (CBF index slope) determined were compared with the mean CBF levels obtained by simultaneous autoradiography. RESULT: The F values correlated well with the mean CBF obtained by autoradiography (r = 0.818, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This innovative I-123 IMP graph plot analysis method using the time-activity curve of the head and pulmonary trunk alone is a noninvasive, convenient way to measure CBF. It is expected to become the most useful clinical technique for measuring CBF with I-123 IMP. This method can be used for patient follow-up and for comparing different patient groups evaluated in regional CBF studies.
The study was conducted to clarify the cytocidal effect of combination therapy consisting of administration of acridine orange (AO), which is a photosensitizer, and radiation therapy using in vitro and in vivo mouse osteosarcoma models. The results revealed that AO combined with low-dose X-ray irradiation of about 1-5 Gy had a strong cytocidal effect on the cultured mouse osteosarcoma cells regardless of their chemosensitivity, and that this combination therapy inhibited growth of the in vivo mouse osteosarcoma by induction of tumor necrosis. This effect was inhibited by L-histidine, but not by mannitol. These findings suggested that AO might be excited by X-rays and kill osteosarcoma cells through the release of singlet oxygen, which is toxic to living cells. This mechanism is similar to that of photodynamic therapy with AO.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is usually done before administration of intravenous contrast agents. Repetition of DWI is occasionally necessary after administration, but the effects of contrast material on DWI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values have not yet been fully examined. The present study assesses whether administration of gadolinium-based contrast material significantly affects DWI and ADC values. METHODS: We examined DWI data from 39 patients (mean age, 67.9 years; range, 34 to 87 years) who were evaluated with a stroke protocol at our institute. All patients were scanned at the acute or subacute stages of infarct from 3 hours to 5 days after symptom onset. We obtained DWI images using single-shot echo-planar imaging with a b value of 1000 s/mm2. Patients were injected with 0.1 mmol gadopentetate dimeglumine per 1 kg body weight. We examined the signal-to-noise ratio of the normal brain and the infarct and evaluated the contrast-to-noise ratio of each lesion. In addition, we compared the ADC values calculated from the DWI images before and after administration of contrast. The statistical significance of differences between precontrast and postcontrast administration was determined by use of a paired t test. RESULTS: The signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios of the DW images were not significantly different before and after administration of contrast agent. The ADC values were slightly lower after administration of contrast agent for both normal brain (P=0.0011) and infarcts (P=0.038). The estimated differences in the ADC values were approximately 1.3% and 3.5% for normal brain and infarcts, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of a significant difference between the signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios of DW images before and after administration of contrast agent indicates the feasibility of postcontrast DWI.