Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Section, Division of Human Health, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
Am J Cardiovasc Drugs. 2017 Dec;17(6):441-446. doi: 10.1007/s40256-017-0230-7.
The field of nuclear cardiology has changed considerably over recent years, with greater attention paid to safety and radiation protection issues. The wider usage of technetium-99m (Tc-99m)-labeled radiopharmaceuticals for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging using gamma cameras has contributed to better quality studies and lower radiation exposure to patients. Increased availability of tracers and scanners for positron emission tomography (PET) will help further improve the quality of studies and quantify myocardial blood flow and myocardial flow reserve, thus enhancing the contribution of non-invasive imaging to the management of coronary artery disease. The introduction of new instrumentation such as solid state cameras and new software will help reduce further radiation exposure to patients undergoing nuclear cardiology studies. Results from recent studies, focused on assessing the relationship between best practices and radiation risk, provide useful insights on simple measures to improve the safety of nuclear cardiology studies without compromising the quality of results.
近年来，核心脏病学领域发生了重大变化，对安全和辐射防护问题的关注日益增加。伽马相机使用锝-99m（Tc-99m）标记放射性药物进行单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）成像的广泛应用，有助于提高研究质量并降低患者的辐射暴露。正电子发射断层扫描（PET）示踪剂和扫描仪的可用性增加将有助于进一步提高研究质量，并量化心肌血流和心肌血流储备，从而增强非侵入性成像对冠状动脉疾病管理的贡献。新型仪器（如固态相机和新软件）的引入将有助于进一步降低接受核心脏病学研究的患者的辐射暴露。最近的研究集中在评估最佳实践与辐射风险之间的关系，这些研究的结果提供了有用的见解，即采取简单措施可以在不影响结果质量的情况下提高核心脏病学研究的安全性。
