TY - JOUR T1 - In Vivo Visualization of Amyloid Deposits in the Heart with <sup>11</sup>C-PIB and PET JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO - J Nucl Med SP - 213 LP - 220 DO - 10.2967/jnumed.111.102053 VL - 54 IS - 2 AU - Gunnar Antoni AU - Mark Lubberink AU - Sergio Estrada AU - Jan Axelsson AU - Kristina Carlson AU - Lars Lindsjö AU - Tanja Kero AU - Bengt Långström AU - Sven-Olof Granstam AU - Sara Rosengren AU - Ola Vedin AU - Cecilia Wassberg AU - Gerhard Wikström AU - Per Westermark AU - Jens Sörensen Y1 - 2013/02/01 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/54/2/213.abstract N2 - Cardiac amyloidosis is a differential diagnosis in heart failure and is associated with high mortality. There is currently no noninvasive imaging test available for specific diagnosis. N-[methyl-11C]2-(4′-methylamino-phenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole (11C-PIB) PET is used in the evaluation of brain amyloidosis. We evaluated the potential use of 11C-PIB PET in systemic amyloidosis affecting the heart. Methods: Patients (n = 10) diagnosed with systemic amyloidosis—including heart involvement of either monoclonal immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) or transthyretin (ATTR) type—and healthy volunteers (n = 5) were investigated with PET/CT using 11C-PIB to study cardiac amyloid deposits and with 11C-acetate to measure myocardial blood flow to study the impact of global and regional perfusion on PIB retention. Results: Myocardial 11C-PIB uptake was visually evident in all patients 15–25 min after injection and was not seen in any volunteer. A significant difference in 11C-PIB retention in the heart between patients and healthy controls was found. The data indicate that myocardial amyloid deposits in patients diagnosed with systemic amyloidosis could be visualized with 11C-PIB. No correlation between 11C-PIB retention index and myocardial blood flow as measured with 11C-acetate was found on the global level, whereas a positive correlation on the segmental level was seen in a single patient. Conclusion: 11C-PIB and PET could be a method to study systemic amyloidosis of type AL and ATTR affecting the heart and should be investigated further both as a diagnostic tool and as a noninvasive method for treatment follow-up. ER -