- Director: Earnest Garcia, PhD
Welcome to the Nuclear Cardiology Research and Development page. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and has been so for the last 80 years. Nuclear cardiology has played a key role in improving our ability to 1) assess heart health by measuring myocardial perfusion, function, metabolic integrity and the effects of disease processes, 2) monitor the effectiveness of therapy, and 3) predict patient outcome. Our group is involved in a variety of innovative projects aimed at improving the ability of all in our field to use molecular imaging tools for greater diagnostic and prognostic accuracy and confidence.
Development of I-123 BMIPP normal databases and criteria for abnormality implemented in the ECTb quantification tools.
PI: Ernest V. Garcia, PhD
Co-Investigators: Russell D. Folks, BS, CNMT, Cesar A. Santana, MD
Purpose: To develop a database of patients to define the normal distribution of BMIPP in myocardium, and regional thresholds below which distribution is defined as abnormal. Thresholds will be varied according to the patient’s calculated risk of acute coronary syndrome. To validate the thresholds in 1) a retrospective and 2) a prospective population.
Significance: This project will improve I-123 BMIPP cardiac SPECT imaging by producing quantitative images which can be interpreted with higher sensitivity and specificity.
Detecting Changes in Myocardial Perfusion and Function
PI: Tracy L Faber
CoInvestigators: Ernest Garcia, Russell D Folks, Eldad Haber, C. David Cooke, Jakob Vinten-Johansen
Purpose: Quantitative alignment and comparison of serial SPECT and PET studies of myocardial perfusion
Significance: To improve assessment of improvement or degradation in myocardial perfusion with time or treatment.
Phase Analysis of ECG-Gated Cardiac SPECT and PET Studies to Measure Left-Ventricular Dyssynchrony
PI: Ji Chen, PhD
Co-Investigators: Ernest V. Garcia, PhD, Tracy L. Faber, PhD, C. David Cooke, MSEE, Russell D. Folks, BS, CNMT
Purpose: Measuring left-ventricular dyssynchrony from ECG-gated cardiac SPECT and PET studies in order to improve diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients.
Significance: This project will improve prediction of heart failure patients' responses to cardiac resynchronization therapy and evaluation of the outcome of the treatment.
Deconvolution of Septal Penetration for I-123 mIBG Cardiac SPECT Imaging
PI: Ji Chen, PhD
Co-Investigators: Ernest V. Garcia, PhD, Russell D. Folks, BS, CNMT, Liudmila Verdes, MD
Purpose: Improving image quality and measurement of the heart-to-mediastinum ratio of I-123 mIBG cardiac SPECT imaging by deconvolution of septal penetration
Significance: This project will improve the diagnostic accuracy of I-123 mIBG cardiac SPECT imaging by producing images with higher quality and measuring heart-to-mediastinum ratios more accurately.
3D Fusion and Visualization of Quantified Cardiac CTCA and Nuclear Perfusion Imagery
PI: Tracy L Faber
CoInvestigators: Ernest Garcia, Eldad Haber, Anthony Yezzi (at GaTech), Jakob Vinten-Johansen, Cesar Santana, Paolo Raggi, Gopi Sirineni, C David Cooke, Russell D. Folks, Arthur Stillman, Habib Samady, Fabio Esteves
Purpose: Explicit alignment of coronary arteries from CTCA with perfusion
distributions from SPECT and PET, with integration of quantitative information.
Significance: To improve diagnosis of CAD and minimize the necessity for invasive coronary angiography
Ernest Garcia, PhD
Ji Chen, PhD
David Cooke, MSEE
Tracy Faber, PhD
Russell Folks, CNMT
Daya Manatunga, MSEE
Liudmila Verdes, MD
Nettie Sutton
E-mail: nsutton@emory.edu