[en] Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the value of radionuclide myocardial imaging in the evaluation of cardiac involvement in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA). Methods: The ⁹⁹Tc^m-methoxyisobutylisonitrile myocardial perlusion imaging (MIBI-MPI) and (or) ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET imaging findings in 12 TA patients [3 men and 9 women, mean age (35 ± 15) years] with coronary lesions (CL; n=8) or aortic insufficiency (AI; n=4) were retrospectively reviewed and analysed. Of the 4 AI-TA patients, 1 underwent exercise MIBI-MPI, 1 underwent pharmacologic stress MIBI-MPI and 2 un- derwent resting MIBI-MPI. Of the 8 CL-TA patients, 4 pnderwent MIBI-MPI (2 stress and 2 rest) and 4 un- derwent a dual-isotope simultaneous acquisition (DISA) SPECT protocol after injection of MIBI and FDG. Results: All 4 AI-TA patients showed left ventricular enlargement but no peffusion abnormalities. In 3 CL- TA patients with no documented infarct, MPI or DISA showed stress ischemia (n=2) or mismatched perfusion-metabolism defects (n=1). In the remaining 5 CL-TA patients with documented infarcts, 2 showed large perfusion defects on resting MIBI and 3 showed matched perfusion-metabolism defects on DISA SPECT. Conclusion: Radionuclide imaging is useful in providing a comprehensive functional evaluation for TA patients with cardiac involvement. (authors)

[en] Objective: To compare the value of captopril renography and losartan renography in identification of renovascular hypertension. Methods: Forty-six patients with suspected renovascular hypertension underwent radionuclide renography intervened with captopril at first and losartan in 24-48 h. All patients had renal artery angiography within 7 d after radionuclide renography. Results: The sensitivity of captopril and losartan renography for diagnosing renovascular hypertension was 60.0% and 84.0%, and the specificity was 95.5% and 97.0%, respectively; the positive predictive rate was 83.3% and 91.3%, respectively; the negative predictive rate was 86.4% and 94.2%, respectively; the accuracy was 85.8% and 93.4%, respectively. The difference of sensitivity and accuracy between the two intervention agents was significant (P<0.05). But the difference of specificity between the two intervention agents was not significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: The sensitivity and accuracy of renoimaging intervened with losartan is evidently higher than that of captopril intervened imaging in diagnosis of renovascular hypertension

[en] PurposeCurrently, almost all adrenal venous sampling (AVS) procedures are performed by femoral vein access. The purpose of this study was to establish the technique of AVS via an antecubital approach and evaluate its safety and feasibility.Materials and MethodsFrom January 2012 to June 2015, 194 consecutive patients diagnosed as primary aldosteronism underwent AVS via an antecubital approach without ACTH simulation. Catheters used for bilateral adrenal cannulations were recorded. The success rate of bilateral adrenal sampling, operation time, fluoroscopy time, dosage of contrast, and incidence of complications were calculated.ResultsA 5F MPA1 catheter was first used to attempt right adrenal cannulation in all patients. Cannulation of the right adrenal vein was successfully performed in 164 (84.5%) patients. The 5F JR5, Cobra2, and TIG catheters were the ultimate catheters for right adrenal cannulation in 16 (8.2%), 5 (2.6%), and 9 (4.6%) patients, respectively. For left adrenal cannulation, JR5 and Cobra2 catheters were used in 19 (9.8%) and 10 (5.2%) patients, respectively, while only TIG catheters were used in the remaining 165 (85.1%) patients. The rate of successful adrenal sampling on the right, left, and bilateral sides was 91.8%, 93.3%, and 87.6%, respectively. The mean time of operation was (16.3 ± 4.3) minutes, mean fluoroscopy time was (4.7 ± 1.3) minutes, and the mean use of contrast was (14.3 ± 4.7) ml. The incidence of adrenal hematoma was 1.0%.ConclusionsThis study showed that AVS via an antecubital approach was safe and feasible, with a high rate of successful sampling.