PET as a cardiovascular and metabolic research tool

Positron emission tomography (PET) represents the most advanced scintigraphic imaging technology. It can be employed for cardiovascular research as well as for clinical applications in patients with various cardiovascular diseases. PET allows the noninvasive functional assessment of myocardial perfusion, substrate metabolism and cardiac innervation as well as the study of skeletal muscle metabolism and perfusion in vivo. The large number of existing tracers and the flexibility of the PET technique that allows it to be combined with many other methods, such as the insulin clamp technique, increase its potential as a research tool. In the detection of myocardial viability PET is regarded as the golden standard, and it is the only method available for the quantitative assessment of myocardial blood flow.