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About

Dr. Berman has been head of nuclear cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for over 30 years and a professor of medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine since 1986. His career has been largely devoted to developing and optimizing the methods for acquiring, processing, quantifying and reporting single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) and more recently positron emission tomography (PET) MPI, developing the acquisition and processing protocols, standardizing these assessments across laboratories, and reporting evidence regarding the ways in which these methods are useful for risk assessment and guiding patient management decisions. He was an author of the original ASNC guidelines for the performance and interpretation of SPECT MPI. Dr. Berman has been the medical director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine program at Cedars-Sinai which developed and validated the quantitative assessment methods that are used in the core laboratory. He has developed and directed the Cedars-Sinai Nuclear Cardiology Database, which has prospectively recorded over 400 historical, clinical, stress testing, and nuclear variables obtained with rest/stress MPI at the time of testing and follow-up information in over 22,000 unique patients. Using this database, Dr. Berman and his colleagues have authored over 65 manuscripts dealing with risk stratification using MPI, providing much of the preliminary information regarding ischemia and outcomes that supports other studies such as the $84MM NIH-funded International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) trial.

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Skills

Experience

Professor of Medicine

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Jan-1977 to Present

Publication

Association of Sex With Severity of Coronary Artery Disease, Ischemia, and Symptom Burden in Patients With Moderate or Severe Ischemia: Secondary Anal...

Importance While many features of stable ischemic heart disease vary by sex, differences in ischemia, coronary anatomy, and symptoms by sex have not been investigated among patients with mo...

  • dott image September, 2018

Sex differences in calcified plaque and long-term cardiovascular mortality: observations from the CAC Consortium

Aims  Pathologic evidence supports unique sex-specific mechanisms as precursors for acute cardiovascular (CV) events. Current evidence on long-term CV risk among women when compared with ...

Coronary Atherosclerosis T1-Weighed Characterization With Integrated Anatomical Reference: Comparison With High-Risk Plaque Features Detected by Invas...

Objectives: The aim of this work is the development of coronary atherosclerosis T1-weighted characterization with integrated anatomical reference (CATCH) technique and the validation by com...

  • dott image January, 2016

Myocardial steatosis as a possible mechanistic link between diastolic dysfunction and coronary microvascular dysfunction in women

Women with coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) and no obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) have increased rates of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The mecha...

  • dott image November, 2015

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of late Na current inhibition (ranolazine) in coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD): impact on angina and my...

Aims The mechanistic basis of the symptoms and signs of myocardial ischaemia in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and evidence of coronary microvascular dysfunction...

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Myocardial Perfusion Reserve Index Is Reduced in Women With Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction: A National Heart, Lung, and...

Background— Women with signs and symptoms of ischemia and no obstructive coronary artery disease often have coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD), diagnosed by invasive coronary reacti...

Diastolic Dysfunction in Women With Signs and Symptoms of Ischemia in the Absence of Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease: A Hypothesis-Generating Stud...

Background— Angina, in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease, is more common in women, is associated with adverse cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and is a major burde...

  • dott image September, 2013

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging myocardial perfusion reserve index assessment in women with microvascular coronary dysfunction and reference contro...

Objective: We sought to comparatively assess cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) myocardial perfusion reserve index (MPRI) in women with confirmed microvascular coronary dysfunction (M...

  • dott image January, 2011

Ranolazine Improves Angina in Women With Evidence of Myocardial Ischemia But No Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease

Objectives: We conducted a pilot study for a large definitive clinical trial evaluating the impact of ranolazine in women with angina, evidence of myocardial ischemia, and no obstructive co...

  • dott image January, 2011

Myocardial Ischemia in the Absence of Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of myocardial ischemia measured by adenosine stress cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) using visual myocardial perfusion and...