PET-Myocardial Perfusion Imaging in the Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease: the basics

Abstract

PET Myocardial Perfusion Imaging is one of the most useful tools for clinicians when assessing coronary artery disease, due to its increasing availability, it is of superb importance to recognize the physiological basis and the basic principles for its interpretation. The most common protocols make use of Rubidium or Ammonia as radiotracers to evaluate myocardial perfusion and these agents have different characteristics, one caveat of Ammonia is that an on-site cyclotron is needed due to its short half-life. PET-MPI exhibits abnormalities not only on epicardial arteries but also in the microcirculation, as well as other parameters such as left ventricle ejection fraction and coronary flow reserve. Hybrid studies combine a functional with an anatomical study (i.e. PET-MPI and coronary computed tomography, respectively) and allows for a more complete evaluation of patients and to predict outcomes with great quality..