Advances in nuclear cardiology instrumentation: Clinical potential of SPECT and PET

Abstract

Myocardial perfusion imaging using nuclear cardiology techniques has enjoyed widespread clinical use because of its well-documented diagnostic accuracy for assessing coronary artery disease. Industry has begun to create innovative designs of dedicated cardiac single photon emission CT (SPECT) scanners that constrain all detector area to imaging just the heart. New software has also been implemented, which recovers image resolution and limits image noise. Myocardial perfusion positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is experiencing unprecedented growth as evidence mounts of superior cardiac diagnostic performance over SPECT. Advances in PET have been made in gantry and detector design. Improvements in gantry design have been focused on hybrid PET/CT imaging. Improvements in detector design have consisted of using new scintillation crystals and in moving from two- to three-dimensional imaging. These SPECT and PET innovations are resulting in shorter study time and/or reduced radiation dose to the patient and in promoting easier scheduling, higher patient satisfaction, and importantly, higher image quality.