Fluorine-18-deoxyglucose SPECT and coincidence imaging for myocardial viability: Clinical and technologic issues

Beyond myocardial blood flow and contractile function, the clinical practice of nuclear cardiology is on the verge of expanding its procedures to include the characterization of myocardial metabolism in various cardiovascular disorders. FDG provides the opportunity to probe the glucose utilization status of the human heart. This opportunity is no longer confined to a single technology, such as PET, with a dedicated cyclotron facility, or a single disease condition, such as assessment of myocardial viability. The potential of FDG imaging with a modified gamma camera would enable the application of FDG (as well as other positron-labeled tracers in the future) to the daily clinical practice of nuclear cardiology in concert with conventionally used single-photon tracers, such as Tl-201 and Tc-99m-labeled perfusion tracers.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]