SPECT/CT fusion imaging integrating anatomy and perfusion of the heart.

In the rapidly changing world of medicine, boundaries between specialties are constantly being challenged. Fused and hybrid imaging with integration of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and computed tomography (CT)(SPECT/ CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) and CT (PET/CT), represent an area of very rapid growth with significant implications for the medical profession. SPECT and PET scanners have now been linked to computer topographic (CT) scanners, which are digital radiological systems which acquire data in the axial plane, producing images of the heart, as well as other internal organs, of high spatial and contrast resolution. The combination of SPECT or PET and CT for image fusion, either as a single unit or as a software–based integration of SPECT or PET myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and CT angiography (CTA) data sets from standalone scanners, can provide us with a simultaneous noninvasive assessment of coronary anatomy and myocardial perfusion. The benefits of such fusion imaging lie in the greater diagnostic confidence for the evaluation and the appropriate management of coronary artery disease (CAD). Not AtHENs cArDIOLOGY UPDAtE 2008