Observer reproducibility of results from a low-dose super(123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine cardiac imaging protocol in patients with heart failure

• Published in: European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging 2013-10, Vol.40 (10), p.1549-1557
• Main Authors: Pellegrino, Teresa, Petretta, Mario, Luca, Serena, Paolillo, Stefania, Boemio, Antonio, Carotenuto, Raffaella, Petretta, Maria Piera, Nuzzo, Carmine, Perrone-Filardi, Pasquale, Cuocolo, Alberto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1619-7070; 1619-7089
• DOI: 10.1007/s00259-013-2461-4

Purpose: Imaging of the cardiac autonomic system with super(123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is useful in the evaluation of patients with a variety of cardiac conditions, including heart failure (HF), but few data are available about the reproducibility of this technique. We assessed the observer reproducibility of the results from a low-dose super(123)I-MIBG cardiac imaging protocol in patients with HF. Methods: A total of 74 patients (62 men, age 67 plus or minus 10 years) with HF and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction 31 plus or minus 7 %) underwent low-dose (111 MBq) planar and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) super(123)I-MIBG cardiac sympathetic imaging. The intraclass coefficient of correlation (ICC), Lin's concordance correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman analysis were used to evaluate the intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of early and late heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratios and of defect scores on SPECT images. The Kappa statistic was used to evaluate the concordance rates for the identification of patients with a low H/M ratio (