Cardiovascular nuclear medicine and intensive care

The clinical application of cardiovascular nuclear imaging techniques to intensive care medicine holds great promise for improved non-invasive assessment of the patient. With the development of new radiopharmaceutical agents and better instrument resolution, it is now possible to provide quantitative information concerning myocardial perfusion, acute myocardial ischaemia, left ventricular function, thromboembolic pulmonary disease and analysis of the patient's respiratory function. The patient can be studied during various phases of his disease, with these techniques furnishing objective guidelines of the therapy and prognosis.