Gifu Heart Center was established 10 years ago as a hospital specializing in cardiovascular disease. Since its founding, more than 700 Percutaneous Coronary Intervention procedures and 200 open-heart surgeries are performed annually.
Prior the purchase of the D-SPECT, the non-invasive diagnosis of ischemic heart disease was limited to exercise-loaded electrocardiogram or coronary CT. We recognized the importance of the physiology-guided PCI as adaptation of revascularization was decided basically based on FFR but, we felt the need for a non-invasive ischemia diagnostic modality. We chose the D-SPECT, a cardiac-dedicated machine with high sensitivity, high spatial resolution, and short scan time; as the most suitable solution for us.
In many cases, when compared to conventional Anger cameras, D-SPECT provides a higher accuracy for diagnosing ischemia. In addition, we’re able to diagnose the detailed ischemic site by combining it with the anatomical findings of the coronary arteries acquired in CTA. This allows us to plan for PCI and CABG procedures with greater precision.
Due to the fact ischemic heart disease patients with renal dysfunction may experience complication by using contrast-enhanced CT or coronary angiogram; D-SPECT is particularly useful for diagnosis and follow up after revascularization. It is also suitable for patients who underwent medical therapy with FFR measurement in coronary angiogram.
We are now focusing on MFR measurement by utilizing a dynamic protocol which takes advantage of the temporal resolution gained with the CZT technology of the D-SPECT. MFR is useful not only for treatment planning of coronary arteries disease; but also, for prognosis, evaluation and comprehensive patient treatment strategies, which we believe is key indicator for the treatment of ischemic heart disease in the future.
We are pleased to work with Spectrum Dynamics Medical on the MFR protocol and software improvement; that would be a great benefit for D-SPECT users. Our hospital also performs catheter-based therapy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension cases. We look forward to having functional imaging of the pulmonary blood flow, we believe the utilization of D-SPECT will be broaden if that happens.