Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the measurement of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and develop a method for producing parametric perfusion images with carbon-11 (11C-)acetate by a simple graphical analysis method.
Patients and methods: A total of 14 patients underwent dynamic PET acquisition using nitrogen-13 (13N-)ammonia and 11C-acetate at rest to measure the influx rate constants of the tracers (K*amm and K*ace, respectively). Using the early phase of dynamic data (30-150 s), K*amm and K*ace were calculated pixel-by-pixel by the graphical analysis method.
Results: The patients were divided into two groups (groups A and B). The regression equation relating K*amm and K*ace was calculated with group A. K*amm and K*ace were linearly correlated (r2=0.718, P<0.001). The regression equation was K*ace=0.736.K*amm+0.086. By using this equation, K*ace was converted into MBFace. To validate this equation, MBFace and MBF measured with 13N-ammonia (MBFamm) in group B were compared. MBFamm and MBFace exhibited a good linear correlation. The regression line was very close to the line of identity (MBFace=1.01.MBFamm +0.01, r2=0.838, P<0.001). The image quality of MBFace was generally better than that of MBFamm.
Conclusion: Using the graphical analysis method, it is convenient and reliable to measure myocardial perfusion and develop parametric images with 11C-acetate under resting conditions.