Simplified quantification of N-ammonia PET myocardial blood flow: A comparative study with the standard compartment model to facilitate clinical use.

BACKGROUND

Short imaging protocol to quantify myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR) may enhance the clinical application of N-ammonia cardiac PET. We assessed the flow quantitation of N-ammonia PET implementing simple retention model and two-compartment model.

METHODS

Fourteen healthy volunteers (HVT) and twenty-three clinical patients received N-ammonia PET/CT. The simple retention model used the first 7-minute image to quantify MBF. Global and regional MBF and MFR of the two models were compared.

RESULTS

Global and regional MBF and MFR of these two models were highly correlated with mildly inferior correlation in RCA territory (global R: rest MBF = 0.79, stress MBF = 0.65, MFR = 0.77; regional R: rest MBF ≥ 0.72, stress MBF ≥ 0.52, MFR ≥ 0.68). There were significant differences for MFR (4.04 ± 0.72, 3.66 ± 0.48, p = .02) and rest MBF (0.69 ± 0.12, 0.78 ± 0.12, p = .02) between the two models in the HVT group.

CONCLUSIONS

N-ammonia global and regional MBF and MFR from the simple retention model demonstrate strong correlations with that from the two-compartment model. Significant differences of MFR and rest MBF are noted in the HVT group, with a proposed normal reference value for the N-ammonia short simple retention protocol.