Expert protocol teams enhance patient centered cardiac testing and care

Excerpt

The field of nuclear cardiology has witnessed major advances in recent decades which have enhanced the quality and effectiveness of care. New radiotracers, the migration from planar to tomographic imaging, the development cardiac PET, cadmium zinc telluride SPECT, flow quantification with PET and CZT SPECT, CAD evaluation in the obese and other special populations, evidence based monitoring of therapeutic effectiveness of lifestyle, medical, and revascularization interventions; stress only imaging with ultra low dose radiation exposure afforded by attenuation corrected SPECT MPI, assessment of the risks of cardiotoxicity of modern cancer therapy and prevention of heart failure; molecular imaging of hibernating viable myocardium to assess benefit of revascularization, metabolic assessment of infiltrative diseases including sarcoidosis and amyloidosis, and assessment of heart failure risk and therapeutic response with MIBG, hydroxy ephedrine, and quantification of cardiac dyssynchrony have greatly augmented the number and complexity of studies performed routinely in clinical practice. The proliferation of nuclear cardiology testing options within the field has increased the complexity and sophistication required to order, perform, and interpret nuclear cardiology studies. …