BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to apply an artificial neural network (ANN) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and to characterize its diagnostic ability compared with conventional visual and quantitative methods in myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 106 patients with CAD were studied with MPI, including multiple vessel disease (49%), histo...

Treadmill exercise capacity in resting metabolic equivalents (METs) and stress hemodynamic, electrocardiographic (ECG), and myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) responses are independently predictive of adverse clinical events. However, limited data exist for arm ergometer stress testing (AXT) in patients who cannot perform leg exercise because of lower extremity disabilities. We sought to determ...

BACKGROUND Computed tomography coronary angiography (CTA) has been shown to be accurate in detecting anatomic coronary arterial obstruction, but is limited for the detection of myocardial ischemia. The primary aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of 320-row computed tomography perfusion imaging (CTP) to detect atherosclerosis causing myocardial ischemia. METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty symp...

PURPOSE Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using gated single-photon emission tomography (gSPECT) may underestimate the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). This study aimed to evaluate the significance of combined parameters derived from gSPECT, as well as treadmill stress test parameters, in the detection of severe CAD. METHODS A total of 211 consecutive patients referred for exercise...

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...

Objective: Heart failure is one of the most important disease which threats population’s health. Its prevalance increases both in our country and world years. Nebivolol a molecule proved its efficacy treatment heart failure. The aim this study was to evaluate changes echocardiographic parameters such as tissue doppler imaging myocardial performance index (MPI) after 6 months nebivolol patients ...

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...