Quantitative assessment of myocardial blood flow--clinical and research applications.

Myocardial perfusion imaging with SPECT/CT or with PET/CT is a mainstay in clinical practice for the diagnostic assessment of downstream, flow-limiting effects of epicardial lesions during hyperemic flows and for risk stratification of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). In patients with multivessel CAD, the relative distribution of radiotracer uptake in the left ventricular myocardium during stress and rest accurately identifies flow-limiting epicardial lesions or the most advanced, so called culprit, lesion. Often, less severe obstructive CAD lesions may go undetected or underdiagnosed. The concurrent ability of PET/CT with radiotracer kinetic modeling to determine myocardial blood flow (MBF) in absolute terms (mL/g/min) at rest and during vasomotor stress allows the computation of regional myocardial flow reserve (MFR) as an adjunct to the visual interpretation of myocardial perfusion studies. Adding the noninvasive evaluation and quantification of MBF and MFR by PET imaging to the visual analysis of myocardial perfusion may (1) identify subclinical CAD, (2) better characterize the extent and severity of CAD burden, and (3) assess "balanced" decreases of MBF in all 3 major coronary artery vascular territories. Recent investigations have demonstrated that PET-determined reductions in hyperemic MBF or MFR in patients with subclinical or clinically manifest CAD are predictive of increased relative risk of future cardiovascular events and clinical outcome. Quantifying MFR with PET enables the identification and characterization of coronary vasodilator dysfunction as functional precursor of the CAD process, which offers the unique opportunity to monitor its response to lifestyle or risk factor modification by preventive medical care. Whether an improvement or even normalization of hyperemic MBF or the MFR in subclinical or in clinically manifest CAD confers an improved long-term cardiovascular outcome remains untested. Nonetheless, given the recent growth in the clinical utilization of myocardial perfusion PET, image-guided and personalized preventive care of vascular health may become a reality in the near future.

Quantitative PET/CT measures of myocardial flow reserve and atherosclerosis for cardiac risk assessment and predicting adverse patient outcomes.

Conventional scintigraphic myocardial perfusion imaging with SPECT/CT or with PET/CT has evolved as an important clinical tool for the diagnostic assessment of flow-limiting epicardial lesions and risk stratification of patients with suspected CAD. By determining the relative distribution of radiotracer-uptake in the left-ventricular (LV) myocardium during stress, the presence of flow-limiting CAD lesions can be identified. While this approach successfully identifies epicardial coronary artery lesions, the presence of subclinical and non-obstructive CAD may go undetected. In this direction, the concurrent ability of PET/CT to assess absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF) in ml/g/min, rather that relative regional distribution of radiotracer-uptake, and myocardial flow reserve (MFR), expands the scope of conventional myocardial perfusion imaging from the identification of more advanced and flow-limiting epicardial lesions to (1) subclinical CAD, (2) an improved characterization of the extent and severity of CAD burden, and (3) the discovery of "balanced" reduction in myocardial blood flow as a consequence of 3 vessel CAD. Concurrent to the PET data, the CT component of the hybrid PET/CT allows the assessment of coronary artery calcification as an indirect surrogate for CAD burden, without contrast, or with contrast angiography to directly denote coronary stenosis and/or plaque morphology with CT. Hybrid PET/CT system, therefore, has the potential to not only identify and characterize flow-limiting epicardial lesions but also subclinical stages of functional and/or structural stages of CAD. Whether the application of PET/CT for an optimal assessment of coronary pathology, its downstream effects on myocardial perfusion, and coronary circulatory function will in effect lead to changes in clinical decision-making process, investiture in preventive health care, and improved long-term outcome, awaits scientific verification.

Cardiac PET imaging for the detection and monitoring of coronary artery disease and microvascular health.

Positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging in concert with tracer-kinetic modeling affords the assessment of regional myocardial blood flow (MBF) of the left ventricle in absolute terms (milliliters per gram per minute). Assessment of MBF both at rest and during various forms of vasomotor stress provides insight into early and subclinical abnormalities in coronary arterial vascular function and/or structure, noninvasively. The noninvasive evaluation and quantification of MBF and myocardial flow reserve (MFR) extend the scope of conventional myocardial perfusion imaging from detection of end-stage, advanced, and flow-limiting, epicardial coronary artery disease (CAD) to early stages of atherosclerosis or microvascular dysfunction. Recent studies have shown that impaired hyperemic MBF or MFR with PET, with or without accompanying CAD, is predictive of increased relative risk of death or progression of heart failure. Quantitative approaches that measure MBF with PET identify multivessel CAD and offer the opportunity to monitor responses to lifestyle and/or risk factor modification and to therapeutic interventions. Whether improvement or normalization of hyperemic MBF and/or the MFR will translate to improvement in long-term cardiovascular outcome remains clinically untested. In the meantime, absolute measures of MBF with PET can be used as a surrogate marker for coronary vascular health, and to monitor therapeutic interventions. Although the assessment of myocardial perfusion with PET has become an indispensable tool in cardiac research, it remains underutilized in clinical practice. Individualized, image-guided cardiovascular therapy may likely change this paradigm in the near future.