Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
The body mass index (BMI), a number that gives a general indication if a person's weight in relation to his or her height falls within a healthy range, has been receiving a lot of attention this month. If you land on the plus side of 25, you're overweight -- along with approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population.
Obesity brings with it a host of health problems, primary among them coronary artery disease (CAD). Invasive coronary angiography is the standard test for diagnosing CAD, but obesity puts a person at a higher risk of complications from this procedure.
Researchers from the U.S. and the Netherlands believe they have developed a noninvasive alternative, stress myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging with a Tc-99m-labeled agent, that can serve as a valuable tool for predicting cardiac events in obese patients.
Their study, comprised of nearly 300 women and men, tracked the course of cardiac events for approximately six years in obese patients who underwent a stress MPI exam. The findings demonstrated that the noninvasive imaging procedure results in improved detection of CAD in this cohort, which can be extremely helpful for physicians planning a management strategy.
To read more about the use of stress MPI with SPECT for determining the future course of cardiac disease in the obese, click here. As a Molecular Imaging Insider subscriber, you have access to this story before it's published for the rest of our AuntMinnie.com members.
In addition, if you haven't done so recently, be sure to stop in and take a look at our online reference book, Nuclear Medicine on the Internet. Dr. Scott Williams has updated chapters on pharmacologic stress in cardiac imaging, technetium myocardial perfusion imaging, ECG exercise testing, MUGA exam (nuclear ventriculography), cardiac anatomy, PET myocardial imaging, and eight other chapters covering various clinical nuclear medicine topics. Check out his most current postings by clicking here.
Finally, if you'd care to share your suggestions or insights on any aspect of molecular imaging you'd like to see covered on AuntMinnie.com in the future, please send me an e-mail with your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
