[The current status of nuclear cardiology]

Unlike other techniques, nuclear cardiologic imaging enables evaluation of cardiac function employing radioactive tracers. This procedure can be used to assess myocardial blood flow, metabolism, viability, cardiac innervation and receptor status. Therefore, this noninvasive imaging modality can be regarded as supplementary to the screening methods in cardiology and also to angiography. General clinical use was not possible until the rapid development of nuclear medicine in the fifties began. With increasing widespread of positron emission tomography more detailed information on metabolic tissue characterization can be expected and will be of enormous relevance in clinical decision making and in selecting patients for interventions.