Cardiac Amyloid Imaging with super( 18)F-Florbetaben PET: A Pilot Study

• Published in: The Journal of nuclear medicine (1978) Vol. 57; no. 11; p. 1733
• Main Authors: Law, W Phillip, Wang, William YS, Moore, Peter T, Mollee, Peter N, Ng, Arnold CT
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.11.2016
• ISSN: 0161-5505

Our aim was to determine the feasibility of super( 18)F-florbetaben PET in diagnosing cardiac amyloidosis. Methods: super( 18)F-florbetaben PET was performed on 14 patients: 5 amyloid light chain, 5 amyloid transthyretin, and 4 control with hypertensive heart disease. Qualitative and quantitative assessments of super( 18)F-florbetaben activity were performed using the SUV sub( mean) of the left ventricular myocardium and blood pool and calculation of target-to-background SUV ratio. Myocardial super( 18)F-forbetaben retention was also calculated as the percentage mean myocardial SUV change between 0 and 5 min and 15 and 20 min after radiotracer injection. Global left ventricular longitudinal and right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain were calculated using 2-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography. Results: Target-to-background SUV ratio and percentage myocardial super( 18)F-forbetaben retention were higher in amyloid patients than in hypertensive controls. A cutoff of 40% was able to differentiate between cardiac amyloid patients and hypertensive controls. Percentage myocardial super( 18)F-forbetaben retention was an independent determinant of both global left ventricular longitudinal and right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain via an inverse curve relationship. Conclusion: super( 18)F-florbetaben PET imaging can accurately identify and differentiate between cardiac amyloidosis and hypertensive heart disease. Percentage myocardial 18F-florbetaben retention was an independent determinant of myocardial dysfunction in cardiac amyloidosis.