Turk Kardiyol Dern Ars. 2006; 34(3): 184-192

Noninvasive cardiac imaging techniques in evaluating the efficiency of cardiac stem cell therapy

Yelda Tayyareci, Yılmaz Nişancı
İstanbul Üniversitesi İstanbul Tıp Fakültesi Kardiyoloji Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul

Noninvasive imaging techniques play an important role in assessing the efficacy of stem cells in cardiac regenerative medicine. Tissue samples from experimental studies provide detailed information on cellular characteristics, but, similar analyses cannot be performed in humans, necessitating the utilization of noninvasive imaging techniques to evaluate the beneficial effects of cellular cardiomyoplasty on myocardial function and perfusion. The roles of echocardiography in the assessment of left ventricular functions and nuclear diagnostic techniques such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) in determining myocardial viability and perfusion are well established. On the other hand, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the advantage of serial imaging is considered to be the gold standard in the evaluation of cardiac anatomy and is particularly preferred in cellular cardiomyoplasty studies. In addition, further studies are needed to evaluate the utility of noninvasive imaging techniques in assessing the efficacy of labeled stem cells in the myocardium and to monitor their behaviors over time.

Keywords: Diagnostic imaging; hematopoietic stem cell transplantation/radiography; magnetic resonance imaging/methods; myocardial infarction; myocardial reperfusion; radionuclide imaging; regeneration; ventricular function, left.

---