Proceedings of the cardiac PET summit meeting 12 may 2014: Cardiac PET and SPECT instrumentation.

Advances in PET and SPECT and imaging hardware and software are vastly improving the noninvasive evaluation of myocardial perfusion and function. PET perfusion imaging has benefitted from the introduction of novel detectors that now allow true 3D imaging, and precise attenuation correction (AC). These developments have also resulted in perfusion images with higher spatial and contrast resolution that may be acquired in shorter protocols and/or with less patient radiation exposure than traditional PET or SPECT studies. Hybrid PET/CT cameras utilize transmission computed tomographic (CT) scans for AC, and offer the additional clinical advantages of evaluating coronary calcium and myocardial anatomy but at a higher cost than PET scanners that use (68)Ge radioactive line sources. As cardiac PET systems continue to improve, dedicated cardiac SPECT systems are also undergoing a profound change in their design. The scintillation camera general purpose design is being replaced with systems with multiple detectors focused on the heart yielding 5 to 10 times the sensitivity of conventional SPECT. As a result, shorter acquisition times and/or lower tracer doses produce higher quality SPECT images than were possible before. This article reviews these concepts and compares the attributes of PET and SPECT instrumentation.