Does This Patient Have Microvascular Dysfunction?

The majority (60.6 percent) of respondents to this month’s cardiac PET case poll said the mechanism underlying the results of the patient’s PET/CT study was microvascular dysfunction. Other voters selected apical aneurysm (21.1 percent), coronary spasm (16.9 percent), or prior MI (1.4 percent).

The patient was a 60-year-old male smoker with known apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator for unexplained syncope, nonobstructive coronary artery disease on CCTA, psoriatic arthropathy, and recurrent chest pain.

Is MBF the Key to This Case?

Images from the PET/CT study in this month’s case, by Ahmed Sami Abuzaid, MD, EMHL, Stephen Horgan, MB, BCh, PhD, FASNC, Gary Heller, MD, PhD, MASNC, Krishna Patel MD, MSc, FASNC, Kutaiba Nazif, MD, Parthiban Arumugam, MBBS, FASNC, Julie Lanctôt-Bédard, MD, and Matthieu Pelletier-Galarneau, MD, MSc. View the case series.

“It’s clear the majority of poll respondents homed in on the regional myocardial blood flow (MBF) and MBF reserve (MBFR) findings in the patient’s PET/CT study,” says Parthiban Arumugam, MBBS, FASNC, chair of ASNC’s PET Cases Subcommittee. “With PET perfusion findings, MBF and MBFR can potentially shed light on the presence of ‘focal’ microvascular dysfunction in patients with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. There is exciting research underway on the role of cardiac MR and perfusion PET to inform drug therapy to alleviate symptoms.”

View the complete case series and access more valuable resources in ASNC’s Cardiac PET Resource Center.

Learn How to Approach Myocardial Blood Flow at Read with the Experts PET MPI Webinar

Register to attend Read with the Experts: Approach to Myocardial Blood Flow, a 1-hour case-based webinar convening Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 6:00 PM (Eastern Time).

The webinar will feature Ian Armstrong, PhD, Parthiban Arumugam, MBBS, FASNC, and Marcelo F. Di Carli, MD, MASNC, presenting real-world cases, highlighting clinical pearls, and answering your questions.

The webinar is the second in ASNC’s Read with the Experts: PET MPI Case-Based Series co-directed by Dr. Arumugam, Stephen Horgan, MD, PhD, FASNC, and Rupa Sanghani, MD, FASNC. The series covers important topics for busy cardiac imagers who are looking to establish or grow a cardiac PET lab. The series will address Bread and Butter CAD Cases on Nov. 5 and Challenging Cases on Dec. 10.

Earn CME credit with each webinar you attend.

Register for Webinar