New technical developments in nuclear cardiology and hybrid imaging

Cardiac hybrid imaging offers the ability to combine strengths of different imaging modalities in providing information on cardiac physiology along with cardiac and coronary anatomy. Hybrid images contain two data sets combined into a fused image in which both data sets contribute important information. Hybrid coronary computed tomography angiography and nuclear or magnetic resonance myocardial perfusion imaging has been shown to accurately detect coronary artery disease. Emerging clinical applications of cardiac hybrid imaging include evaluation of myocardial viability, cardiac or vascular inflammation, infection, and cardiac infiltration. Cardiac dedicated single photon emission computed tomography scanners, novel software methods for low count image reconstruction, and quantification of myocardial blood flow by positron emission tomography (PET) have potential to lower radiation dose associated with cardiac imaging while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy for the detection of coronary artery disease.