Department of Internal Medicine
Cardiovascular Division
Research Opportunities


George Beller, MD
Noninvasive Imaging of Myocardial Perfusion, Viability and Molecular Targets

The major thrust of this laboratory is the investigation of the ability of various radionuclide agents to assess regional myocardial blood flow, myocardial viability, and vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques. Several animal models of experimental myocardial ischemia and infarction are employed to study the effects of sustained or partial coronary occlusion and reperfusion on radioisotope tracer kinetics. MicroSPECT and MicroPET cameras are used for imaging in mice and rats. There is a particular interest in this laboratory to develop approaches for distinguishing viable myocardium from myocardial necrosis utilizing radionuclide imaging agents. New perfusion and metabolic imagery agents are being investigated as well.  Work is also being performed to evaluate the effectiveness of new adenosine A2A agonists for their use as vasodilator stress agents.

Additionally, our laboratory has recently begun investigating the injurious role that inflammation plays following coronary reperfusion in animal models of myocardial stunning or infarction. Highly potent and selective adenosine receptor agonists and antagonists are being evaluated for their cardioprotective anti-inflammatory properties in these models.

Parallel clinical investigative studies are undertaken in this multidisciplinary research effort to develop and evaluate radionuclide-imaging techniques to quantitate myocardial ischemia and infarction and identify "hibernating" myocardium. In recent years, efforts have been directed at asessing the role of stress imagery in the diabetic population and in the area of multimodality using cardiac CT or CMR with radionuclide tracers.