PMID- 28653180 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20180709 LR - 20181113 IS - 1619-7089 (Electronic) IS - 1619-7070 (Linking) VI - 44 IP - 11 DP - 2017 Oct TI - Regional interaction between myocardial sympathetic denervation, contractile dysfunction, and fibrosis in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: (11)C-hydroxyephedrine PET study. PG - 1897-1905 LID - 10.1007/s00259-017-3760-y [doi] AB - PURPOSE: This investigation aimed to identify significant predictors of regional sympathetic denervation quantified by (11)C-hydroxyephedrine (HED) positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF). METHODS: Included in the study were 34 patients (age 63 +/- 15 years, 23 men) with HFpEF (left ventricular ejection fraction >/=40%) and 11 age-matched volunteers without heart failure. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed to measure left ventricular size and function, and the extent of myocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). (11)C-HED PET was performed to quantify myocardial sympathetic innervation that was expressed as a (11)C-HED retention index (RI, %/min). To identify predictors of regional (11)C-HED RI in HFpEF patients, we propose a multivariate mixed-effects model for repeated measures over segments with an unstructured covariance matrix. RESULTS: Global (11)C-HED RI was significantly lower and more heterogeneous in HFpEF patients than in volunteers (P < 0.01 for all). Regional (11)C-HED RI was correlated positively with systolic wall thickening (r = 0.42, P < 0.001) and negatively with the extent of LGE (r = -0.43, P < 0.001). Segments in HFpEF patients with a large extent of LGE had the lowest regional (11)C-HED RI among all segments (P < 0.001 in post hoc tests). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that systolic wall thickening and the extent of LGE were significant predictors of regional (11)C-HED RI in HFpEF patients (both P