Clinical Neurocardiology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
JNM 2005 46
"Sympathectomy is a technique about which we have limited knowledge, applied to disorders about which we have little understanding." Associate Professor Robert Boas, Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australasian College of Anaesthetists and the Royal College of Anaesthetists, The Journal of Pain, Vol 1, No 4 (Winter), 2000: pp 258-260
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Clinical Investiation
To validate the method, healthy volunteers underwent 6-18F-fluorodopamine scanning of the head, thorax, and abdomen, with or without treatment with desipramine to block sympathoneural uptake of catecholamines. 13N-Ammonia scanning was used to address possible group differences in 6-18F-fluorodopamine delivery by blood perfusion. Results: Desipramine treatment was associated with decreased 6-18F-fluorodopamine–derived radioactivity in the heart, renal cortex, and thyroid gland but not in the liver, spleen, renal pelvis, or salivary glands. Both the PD+OH group and the PAF group had decreased 6-18F-fluorodopamine–derived radioactivity in the heart (P <> (P = 0.02 and P = 0.005, respectively). The PD+OH group also had decreased radioactivity in the thyroid gland (P = 0.01). Neither group had decreased radioactivity in the other organs, after correction for 13N-ammonia–derived radioactivity. Conclusion: 6-18F-Fluorodopamine scanning visualizes sympathetic innervation in the heart, renal cortex, and thyroid gland. Both PD+OH and PAF involve decreased noradrenergic innervation that is most prominent in the heart but is also detectable in extracardiac organs.
Dnyanesh N. Tipre, MPharm, PhD and David S. Goldstein, MD, PhD