F-18 fluoro deoxyglucose SPECT for assessment of myocardial viability.

Identification of myocardial viability in hypokinetic segments is important in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy because systolic dysfunction improves with revascularization. Positron emission tomography (PET) F-18 fluoro deoxyglucose (FDG) uptake has been demonstrated as an accurate indicator of metabolically active and thus viable myocardium. F-18 FDG single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has recently been introduced and offers a technically easier and less costly alternative to PET imaging for determination of myocardial viability. A body of literature demonstrates that F-18 FDG SPECT can reliably be performed with SPECT hardware equipped with 511-keV collimators, which provides an accurate assessment of myocardial viability. F-18 FDG SPECT offers data similar to those offered by F-18 FDG PET and compares favorably with other imaging modalities, including rest-redistribution and stress-reinjection thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging, gated technetium 99m SPECT, and low-dose dobutamine echocardiography.