Relationship between coronary function by positron emission tomography and temporal changes in morphology by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in transplant recipients

Abstract Background: Transplant coronary vasculopathy is one of the major causes of graft failure and death in cardiac transplant recipients. A non-invasive test of coronary function to predict the course of this disease would be desirable. Methods To determine whether the degree of abnormalities in endothelial dependent coronary vasomotion (cold pressor testing) or endothelial independent vasodilatory capacity (intravenous dipyridamole) as determined by positron emission tomography (PET) one to two years after heart transplantation is correlated with the course of transplant vasculopathy. Nineteen patients had baseline PET and intravascular ultrasound studies (IVUS) at 18 ± 6 months after cardiac transplantation and a follow up IVUS study 15 ± 5 months later. Results Myocardial blood flow was higher in patients than in healthy controls ( p p p p p r = 0.55; p = 0.02) and lumen diameter ( r = 0.52; p Conclusion These findings suggest that the degree of abnormalities in endothelial independent myocardial flow as detected by PET one to two years after transplantation is associated with morphological indices of disease progression by IVUS.