Cardiac hybrid imaging: state-of-the-art

The field of noninvasive cardiac imaging has experienced enormous advances including computerized tomography coronary angiography (CTCA). Invasive angiography remains the anatomic standard of reference but it is associated with a non-negligible peri-procedural morbidity and mortality which suggests confining its use to patients who will benefit from a revascularization procedure. Many factors that are beyond the simple quantification of diameter narrowing and therefore cannot be fully assessed with luminology will eventually determine whether or not a given lesion produces stress-induced ischemia. Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy by single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) is one of the most widely used and well established noninvasive tools for the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. Although positron emission tomography (PET) offers a higher accuracy than SPECT its use is often limited to large centers. This article explains the great potential of cardiac hybrid imaging which allows a comprehensive evaluation of coronary artery disease as it combines both morphological and functional information by fusing either SPECT or PET with CTCA. SPECT/CT and PET/CT hybrid imaging can provide entirely noninvasively unique information which helps improving diagnostic assessment and risk stratification and also impacts decision making with regard to revascularization in patients with coronary artery disease.