Successful innovation: A time for change?

Innovation plays an important role in the advancement of nuclear cardiology, meeting the need for reduced exposure to radiation, and maintaining and improving image quality. As we innovate, it is important to understand the impact of these improvements on the clinical and research knowledge base that has made nuclear cardiology such a powerful clinical tool. The need for comparative studies insuring stability in the clinical applicability of our current guidelines and use of the prognostic power of radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging in clinical practice is essential for new and innovative techniques. The existing data demonstrating the significant differences that can occur with the innovative techniques is explored. The need for tools to insure comparable data is available as we begin to utilize registries to inform our clinical practice and research will be an important part of the future of nuclear cardiology.