ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the relationship between myocardial glucose metabolism in the right heart and cardiac function in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM).Methods From October 2010 to May 2013,64 consecutive patients (45 males,19 females; mean age:(53 ± 12) years) with IDCM were enrolled in this study.All patients underwent 18F-FDG myocardial PET imaging,late-gadolinium enhancement cardiac MRI (cMRI-LGE) and UCG.TrueD software was used to determine the SUVmax in right (SUV-R) and left (SUV-L) ventricular free wall,and the ratio of SUV-R to SUV-L (SUV-R/L) was calculated.The cMRI-LGE was used to evaluate LVEF,RVEF and LGE in left heart.Pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) was measured by UCG.Two-sample t test and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data.Results Both SUV-R and SUV-R/L had negative correlation with LVEF (r=-0.48,-0.33; both P＜0.01) and also with RVEF (r=-0.45,-0.44; both P＜0.01).SUV-R/L positively correlated with PASP (r =0.58,P＜0.01).SUV-R/L of patients with and without LGE were statistically different (0.45±0.18 vs 0.36±0.12; t=2.50,P＜0.05).SUV-R and SUV-L of patients with LGE were 2.0±0.9 and 4.7±1.6,and those of patients without LGE were 1.7±0.9 and 5.0±2.8.Both differences of SUV-R and SUV-L between the two groups were not statistically significant (t=0.54 and 0.63,both P＞0.05).Conclusions Myocardial glucose metabolism in right heart is closely correlated with left and right ventricular function.The assessment of 18F-FDG uptake in right heart by PET imaging is potentially useful for evaluation of the severity and prognosis in IDCM patients.