Anatomy and function: PET-CT.

CT coronary angiography and perfusion PET form an attractive combination to study coronary artery lesions and their consequences in patients with coronary artery disease. Whereas CT provides non-invasive assessment of coronary lumen and wall, PET perfusion is a reliable method for the evaluation of myocardial flow. CT, although very capable of ruling out significant coronary artery disease, is less than satisfactory in assessing the actual significance of the detected lesions. PET imaging, despite its excellent sensitivity, fails to describe the exact anatomy of the epicardial vessels. By fusing image data from these two modalities, lesions can be accurately correlated with their physiological or anatomical counterparts. Hybrid PET-CT devices, now in wide clinical use, allow such fusion in a one-stop-shop study. Although still seeking its place in clinical scenarios, growing evidence suggests that hybrid PET-CT imaging of coronary anatomy and myocardial perfusion can accurately - and non-invasively - assess the existence and degree of coronary artery disease.