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Precision and accuracy of clinical quantification of myocardial blood flow by dynamic PET: A technical perspective

  • CME ARTICLE Review Article
  • Published:
Journal of Nuclear Cardiology Aims and scope

Abstract

A number of exciting advances in PET/CT technology and improvements in methodology have recently converged to enhance the feasibility of routine clinical quantification of myocardial blood flow and flow reserve. Recent promising clinical results are pointing toward an important role for myocardial blood flow in the care of patients. Absolute blood flow quantification can be a powerful clinical tool, but its utility will depend on maintaining precision and accuracy in the face of numerous potential sources of methodological errors. Here we review recent data and highlight the impact of PET instrumentation, image reconstruction, and quantification methods, and we emphasize 82Rb cardiac PET which currently has the widest clinical application. It will be apparent that more data are needed, particularly in relation to newer PET technologies, as well as clinical standardization of PET protocols and methods. We provide recommendations for the methodological factors considered here. At present, myocardial flow reserve appears to be remarkably robust to various methodological errors; however, with greater attention to and more detailed understanding of these sources of error, the clinical benefits of stress-only blood flow measurement may eventually be more fully realized.

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Abbreviations

MPI:

Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

MBF:

Myocardial Blood Flow

MFR:

Myocardial Flow Reserve

TOF:

Time of Flight

RPC:

Repeatability Coefficient

FBP:

Filtered Back Projection

3DRP:

3D Reprojection (i.e., 3D FBP)

OSEM:

Ordered Subsets Expectation Maximization

PSF:

Point Spread Function

LV:

Left Ventricle

RV:

Right Ventricle

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Disclosure

J.B. Moody and B.C. Lee are employees of INVIA Medical Imaging Solutions, E.P. Ficaro and J.R. Corbett are stockholders of INVIA Medical Imaging Solutions, and V.L. Murthy has received research support from INVIA Medical Imaging Solutions, which produces a software package for myocardial blood flow estimation. V.L. Murthy has minor stock holdings in General Electric, Mallinckrodt, and Cardinal Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INVIA Medical Imaging Solutions, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Jonathan B. Moody PhD, Benjamin C. Lee PhD & Edward P. Ficaro PhD

  2. Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, 1338 Cardiovascular Center, 1500 E. Medical Center Dr, SPC 5873, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-5873, USA

    James R. Corbett MD, Edward P. Ficaro PhD & Venkatesh L. Murthy MD, PhD

  3. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    James R. Corbett MD & Venkatesh L. Murthy MD, PhD

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  1. Jonathan B. Moody PhD
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  2. Benjamin C. Lee PhD
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  5. Venkatesh L. Murthy MD, PhD
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Correspondence to Venkatesh L. Murthy MD, PhD.

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Moody, J.B., Lee, B.C., Corbett, J.R. et al. Precision and accuracy of clinical quantification of myocardial blood flow by dynamic PET: A technical perspective. J. Nucl. Cardiol. 22, 935–951 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-015-0100-0

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