A novel (18)F-labeled tracer for the quantification of myocardial blood flow and infarct size with positron-emission tomography: another way to avoid the need of an on-site cyclotron.

Currently, nuclear imaging techniques can be used to diagnose coronary macrovascular and microvascular disease and to measure infarct size and left ventricular ejection fraction. Semiquantitative assessment of regional myocardial perfusion with single-photon emission computed tomography is a noninvasive, robust, and widely available method of assessing myocardial ischemia and has an established role in the clinical setting.1 A great number of studies have assessed the sensitivity and specificity of this technique for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD), with coronary arteriography usually being used as the standard by which the accuracy of scintigraphy is judged.1 The main limitation of single-photon emission computed tomography perfusion imaging is that it provides only semiquantitative information on the regional distribution of myocardial blood flow (MBF). This is particularly relevant in conditions in which MBF and coronary flow reserve (CFR) are diffusely abnormal, (eg, in patients with hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies).2