Published in:
01-09-2014 | Original Article
Relationship between quantitative cardiac neuronal imaging with 123I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine and hospitalization in patients with heart failure
Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | Issue 9/2014
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Purpose
Hospitalization in patients with systolic heart failure is associated with morbidity, mortality, and cost. Myocardial sympathetic innervation, imaged by 123I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (123I-mIBG), has been associated with cardiac events in a recent multicenter study. The present analysis explored the relationship between 123I-mIBG imaging findings and hospitalization.
Methods
Source documents from the ADMIRE-HF trial were reviewed to identify hospitalization events in patients with systolic heart failure following cardiac neuronal imaging using 123I-mIBG. Time to hospitalization was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared to the mIBG heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratio using multiple-failure Cox regression.
Results
During 1.4 years of median follow-up, 362 end-point hospitalizations occurred in 207 of 961 subjects, 79 % of whom had H/M ratio <1.6. Among subjects hospitalized for any cause, 88 % had H/M ratio <1.6 and subjects with H/M ratio <1.6 experienced hospitalization earlier than subjects with higher H/M ratios (log-rank p = 0.003). After adjusting for elevated brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and time since heart failure diagnosis, a low mIBG H/M ratio was associated with cardiac-related hospitalization (HR 1.48, 95 % CI 1.05 – 2.0; p = 0.02).
Conclusion
The mIBG H/M ratio may risk-stratify patients with heart failure for cardiac-related hospitalization, especially when used in conjunction with BNP. Further studies are warranted to examine these relationships.