A welcomed new myocardial perfusion imaging agent for positron emission tomography.

摘要

It has been quite some time since a new myocardial perfusion agent for radionuclide imaging was introduced into clinical practice. For more than 30 years, rest and stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), employing first planar and then single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) technology, have been performed with thallium-201, Tc-99m sestamibi and Tc-99m tetrofosmin. MPI with these agents has provided useful diagnostic and prognostic information superior to that attained with exercise electrocardiography alone in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD).1 With the exception of diabetic patients and patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, subjects with normal exercise perfusion scans have a <1.0% death or nonfatal infarction rate per year, whereas patients with abnormal scans have an approximate6% yearly hard event rate.1 Patients with normal pharmacological stress scans have a slightly higher annual event rate because patients who are unable to exercise are at higher clinical risk for CAD.