Myocardial Blood Flow Assessed With PET Scanning in the Evaluation of Patients with Chest Pain

What is typically seen in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is qualitative: Before and after pictures of patients at rest and under stress that are used to identify any kind of relative profusion defects. Quantitative PET takes this technique a step further, quantifying blood flow to the heart tissue in milliliters per minute per gram of myocardial tissue. In essence, traditional PET takes a photo of the heart before and after, but qualitative PET produces a video of the blood flow into the heart over time.
Joining us today to discuss myocardial blood flow and coronary flow reserve as assessed with PET scanning in the evaluation of patients with chest pain is John P. Bois, M.D., a consultant in Ischemic Heart Disease and Critical Care with a joint appointment in Radiology here at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He's also co-director of our Chest Pain and Coronary Physiology Clinic, a nuclear cardiology specialist and an assistant professor of medicine.