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Molecular Imaging of Inflammation in Ischemic Heart Disease

  • Molecular Imaging (P Nguyen and J Wu, Section Editors)
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Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 16 May 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Ischemic heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis, the build-up of plaque in the coronary arteries, which can lead to the development of heart attacks and heart muscle damage. Despite the advent of medical and surgical therapy to prevent and treat atherosclerosis and its adverse clinical effects, ischemic heart disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have suggested that the immune system may play a greater role in the development of plaque rupture and adverse left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction. Understanding the molecular processes by which inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease is, therefore, worthwhile. This review focuses on new molecular imaging techniques to visualize immune cells to study their contribution to ischemic heart disease.

Recent Findings

A common technique applied to imaging inflammation in ischemic heart disease is targeting the up-regulation and trafficking of immune cells, which may contribute to the adverse consequences associated with atherosclerosis. In the past 5 years, advances in cell labeling for imaging with PET and MRI, including radioisotopes and nanoparticles, have confirmed that inflammatory cells can be visualized in vivo and in greater abundance in unstable cardiovascular disease and in areas of ischemic damage. The major criticisms of these studies to date include their small sample size, lack of histological correlation, limited association with long-term outcomes, and bias toward macrophage imaging.

Summary

While much progress has been made in imaging inflammation in ischemic heart disease over the past 5 years, additional studies in larger cohorts with histological validation and outcome correlation are needed. Nevertheless, imaging inflammation using PET or MRI has the potential to become an important adjunct tool to improve the diagnosis, risk stratification, and therapeutic monitoring of patients with ischemic heart disease.

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Change history

  • 16 May 2018

    The original version of this article unfortunately contained mistakes in the abbreviations and body of the text. The Authors had correctly pointed out these errors at the proof stage but were regretfully not implemented at the production level.

Abbreviations

ACS:

acute coronary syndrome

CHD:

coronary heart disease

11C-PK11195:

11C-N-methyl-N-[1-methylpropyl]-1-[2-chlorophenyl]-isoquinoline-3-carboxamide

CT:

computed tomography

DOTATATE:

[1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N, N′, N″, N″′-tetraacetic acid]-d-Phe1, Tyr3-octreotate

FDG:

2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose

18F-GE-180:

S-N, N-diethyl-9-[2-18F-fluoroethyl]-5-methoxy 2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-carbamazole-4-carboxamide

IHD:

ischemic heart disease

LOX-1:

lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1

LV:

left ventricular

MRI:

magnetic resonance imaging

NPR-C:

natriuretic peptide receptor C

PEG:

polyethylene glycol

PET:

positron emission tomography

SPECT:

single-photon emission computed tomography

SPIONs:

superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

SST:

somatostatin

SUVmean:

mean standardized uptake value

TSPOs:

translocator proteins

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Funding

We would like to thank the National Institutes of Health grant R01 HL134830-01 (PKN) for funding support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Isaac Bakerman & Patricia K. Nguyen

  2. Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Mirwais Wardak

  3. Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Mirwais Wardak

  4. Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Mirwais Wardak & Patricia K. Nguyen

  5. Cardiology Section, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care Administration, Building 100, 3801 Miranda Ave., Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA

    Patricia K. Nguyen

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  1. Isaac Bakerman
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Correspondence to Patricia K. Nguyen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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The original version of this article was revised: It contained mistakes in the abbreviations and body of the text. Full information regarding corrections made can be found in the erratum/correction article for this article.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Molecular Imaging

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Bakerman, I., Wardak, M. & Nguyen, P.K. Molecular Imaging of Inflammation in Ischemic Heart Disease. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 11, 13 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-018-9452-6

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