BACKGROUND An analysis of the US National Cardiovascular Data Registry has revealed that only 38% of patients referred for coronary angiography after non-invasive coronary testing have relevant coronary obstruction (CO) (≥70%) of one or more coronary arteries. METHODS A single-center trial was undertaken in 165 consecutive, symptomatic patients with either known or suspected coronary disease ...

Received 7/16/2008; revised 9/5/2008; accepted 9/8/2008. For correspondence and reprints contact: Ming-Hsien Lin, M.D., Division of Nuclear Medicine, Taipei City Hospital Zhongxiao Branch. 87 Tonde Road, Nangang District, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Tel: (886)2-27861288 ext. 8089, Fax: (886)2-26534501, E-mail: [email protected] Previous reports stated that patients with coronary artery fistula (CAF) a...

BACKGROUND Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a validated method for detecting coronary artery disease. Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE) of flow at rest and during adenosine provocation has previously been evaluated in selected patient groups. We therefore wanted to compare the diagnostic ability of TTDE in the left anter...

OBJECTIVE MPI can provide valuable information in the investigation of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. The stress component of the studies can be conducted with regadenoson, which was approved for clinical use in Greece in 2016. We investigated the performance and safety profile of regadenoson MPI based on our 7 months institutional experience. PATIENTS AND METHODS W...

Tremendous growth in medical imaging has prompted a re-focusing on the appropriateness of testing and the rationale for exposure to ionizing radiation for large segments of the adult population at intermediate to high likelihood for coronary artery disease (CAD). Part I of this series addressed the technical or methodological approaches to measuring radiation exposure and laboratory approaches ...

TLR (Toll-like receptor) activation-induced inflammatory responses are important in the progression of atherosclerosis. We previously showed that TLR-dependent leucocyte responsiveness is acutely attenuated following percutaneous coronary intervention or vascular surgery. Furthermore, cytokine release following whole-blood TLR-2 and TLR-4 stimulation is negatively correlated with fractional flo...

BACKGROUND Patient motion during myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging (MPI) may be triggered by a patient's physical and/or psychological discomfort. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of state anxiety (patient's reaction to exam-related stress), trait anxiety (patient's personality characteristic) and depression on patient motion during MPI. METHODS All patients that underwent...

doppler-derived myocardial performance index (mpi), defined as the sum of isovolumetric contraction and relaxation durations divided by ejection time, is an easily measured and reproducible index that shows both systolic and diastolic myocardial function. the goal of this study was to define normal values of right ventricular (rv) mpi in neonates in the first 48 to 72 hours of life. fifty-one q...

Risk stratification strategies used in the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease (CAD) aim to identify patients with intermediate to high likelihood of significant CAD that might benefit from coronary revascularizations and/or aggressive medical therapy. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has been an integral part of the traditional risk stratification algorithm for more than two ...

Comparisons among patterns exhibited by functionally distinct genetic markers have been widely used to infer the impacts of demography and selection in structuring genetic variation in natural populations. However, such multilocus comparisons remain an indirect evaluation of selection at particular candidate loci; ideally, the identification of a candidate gene by comparative genetic methodolog...