Increase in utilization of myocardial perfusion imaging in the Czech Republic: activity and practice of nuclear cardiology, 2003.

BACKGROUND The second survey of nuclear cardiology in the Czech Republic was conducted to ascertain whether the activity had increased since the first survey in 2001; we also intended to identify new trends in clinical practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS All 46 departments of nuclear medicine in the Czech Republic completed a questionnaire concerning nuclear cardiology activity in 2002-2003 and current clinical and technical practices. RESULTS There were 66 SPET cameras in 2003 in comparison with 54 SPET cameras in 2001. Of the 46 centres, 39 (85%) provided nuclear cardiology service. The total number of cardiac studies was 19,261 in 2003 (i.e. 1.9 studies/1,000 population; myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) studies accounted for 91.3% of total nuclear cardiology. In 2001-2003, the utilization rate of MPI increased annually by 10%, 13% and 21% respectively. Twenty-six departments (67%) reported that the number of MPI had increased. The utilization of gated SPET method showed a very positive trend; as only 39% of all MPI studies were acquired using ECG-gating in 2001, but in 2003, there was an increase to 61%. We observed no increase in utilization of attenuation correction (3 centres in 2003 in comparison with 5 centres in 2001). Despite new PET capacity in the Czech Republic, the total number of FDG cardiology studies was somewhat lower in 2003 than in 2001 (155 compared with 163 studies). CONCLUSIONS Our data documented substantial growth in the number of MPI examinations in 2001-2003. However, Czech Republic nuclear cardiology activity still remained below the European average (2.2 studies/1,000 population in 1994); a further increase in MPI activity is necessary to adequately support the needs of cardiac patients.