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Molecular Imaging of Cardiac Sarcoidosis

  • Molecular Imaging (J Wu and P Nguyen, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Cardiac involvement is increasingly being recognized as a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in patients with sarcoidosis. Unfortunately, imaging cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) remains a challenge and often relies on advanced imaging modalities. The aim of this review is to provide an up-to-date overview of the role of molecular imaging for the diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis, with particular emphasis on the use of FDG and non-FDG PET.

Recent Findings

In the last few years, FDG-PET has established itself as an accurate imaging study for the assessment of CS. New diagnostic criteria have recently appeared which incorporate FDG-PET findings in the diagnostic workup for CS. In addition, a joint SNMMI-ASNC Expert Consensus document has appeared on the role of FDG-PET in CS. Recent advances in the field have focused on the role of PET for diagnosis, assessment of therapy, and use of non-FDG tracers to image myocardial inflammation.

Summary

The role of PET is rapidly evolving but is now firmly established as an important component in the imaging assessment of CS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    P. Martineau & E. Leung

  2. Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    M. Pelletier-Galarneau

  3. Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    M. Pelletier-Galarneau

  4. Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    D. Juneau

  5. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    D. Birnie & R. S. B. Beanlands

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  1. P. Martineau
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  2. M. Pelletier-Galarneau
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  3. D. Juneau
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  4. E. Leung
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. S. B. Beanlands.

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Conflict of Interest

RB is a Career Investigator supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, a Tier 1 uOttawa Research Chair and the Vered Chair in Cardiology at UOHI.

D.B. is supported by the UOHI Leadership Chair in Electrophysiology and the Tier 1 University of Ottawa Chair in Electrophysiology Research.

RB is a consultant for and receives research grant funding from Jubilant-DraxImage, Lantheus Medical Imaging, and General Electric.

PM, MPG, DJ, EL, and DB have no conflicts of interest to report.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Molecular Imaging

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Martineau, P., Pelletier-Galarneau, M., Juneau, D. et al. Molecular Imaging of Cardiac Sarcoidosis. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 11, 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-018-9446-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-018-9446-4

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