PET Cases

This page is currently under construction. We will have the cases back up soon. Thank you for your patience. 

This series of cardiac PET clinical case studies, developed by members of the PET Task Force and their colleagues, explore a number of different clinical indications and provide a discussion of the key teaching points to clearly demonstrate the clinical value of cardiac PET imaging.  
Video coming soon!
Drs. Beanlands, Erthal and Chih discuss the use of PET imaging in a 61-year old male heart transplant patient with new onset of heart failure and recurrent chest pain and shortness of breath four years post-surgery. They explore the most likely diagnosis, cardiac allograft vasculopathy or rejection, and the role of cardiac PET imaging  to confirm the diagnosis.

Drs. Horgan and Heller present the case of a 76-year old female with multiple cardiovascular risk factors undergoing evaluation for exertional dyspnea.  They describe the advantages of PET myocardial perfusion imaging for the detection of flow limiting multivessel coronary artery disease. 

Drs. Calnon and Heller discuss a 54-year-old man with a history of prior DES PCI who presents with substernal pressure, mild troponin elevation and elevated BP. They describe the role of cardiac PET perfusion imaging as well as the use of 18FDG PET to assess myocardial viability. 

Drs. Schenone and Cerqueira discuss a 61-year-old woman with history of biopsy-proven systemic sarcoidosis involving lung and brain (stage I) receiving steroids and immunosuppressive therapy who presents with ongoing general weakness, shortness of breath and cough.  Cardiac sarcoidosis is suspected and given her age there is suspicion of coronary artery disease. PET myocardial perfusion imaging and an FDG sarcoid study help to identify ischemia and possible cardiac sarcoid.  There is ischemic memory on the FDG study which should not be misinterpreted as cardiac sarcoid. 

Drs. Schenone and Cerqueira discuss the advantages of PET imaging in the evaluation of a symptomatic 64-year old male with a history of ischemic cardiomyopathy. The case study demonstrates the improved interpretation certainty and diagnostic accuracy with PET imaging.

Drs. Al Badarin and Bateman describe the role of myocardial perfusion imaging and the assessment of myocardial blood flow in a 56-year old male with no known history of coronary artery disease complaining of recurring atypical chest and neck pain unrelated to exertion.  The study explores the importance of time-activity curves in identifying technical problems that can impact accuracy of myocardial blood flow assessment.

Drs. Al Badarin and Bateman discuss the use of PET imaging and the role of myocardial blood flow to assess a 39-year-old female who presents to the emergency department with chest discomfort and dyspnea for 2-3 days. They demonstrate how the assessment of myocardial blood flow improves the diagnostic yield of PET myocardial perfusion imaging.  
 
   

PET Cases Supported by Jubilant DraxImage