Physiologic evaluation of coronary flow: the role of positron emission tomography

As the complexity, cost, and risks of cardiac interventions direct attention to careful selection of patients, the ability of diagnostic imaging techniques to provide quantitative documentation of the hemodynamic severity of coronary artery disease will assume greater importance. Among the various techniques currently in use, positron emission tomography yields superior spatial resolution and attenuation correction and has high sensitivity and specificity. The correlation of positron emission tomography results with coronary stenosis severity and the possibility of making quantitative flow measurements using oxygen-15 water suggest that cardiac positron emission tomography may be the best noninvasive approach for diagnostic purposes.