High-speed myocardial perfusion imaging: dawn of a new era in nuclear cardiology?

During the past 2 decades, myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has become fully embedded in the practice of clinical cardiology. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) cameras are readily available in both the hospital and the office setting. The stress protocols for MPI, with either exercise or pharmacologic stress, are well established, straightforward, and easily implemented. And there is extensive experience in the published reports and in clinical practice regarding the application of SPECT perfusion imaging for diagnosis, prognosis, and risk stratification. Thus, in an era of technological advances in ultrasound imaging, cardiac magnetic resonance, and cardiac computed tomography, SPECT perfusion imaging is firmly established as an efficient, reliable, and relatively cost-effective procedure in the management of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease.