Perfusion imaging using rubidium-82 (82Rb) PET in rats with myocardial infarction: First small animal cardiac 82Rb-PET

Assessing myocardial perfusion using Rb-PET is emerging as a valuable clinical tool. The rapid decay (T = 76 s) allows for absolute quantification of both rest and stress perfusion within 30 minutes. In addition to evaluation of epicardial disease with perfusion defects, also evaluation of balanced coronary and small vessel disease is possible. For further evaluation of how Rb-PET can be used clinically, pre-clinical application of the method would be valuable. However, so far no data on the use of Rb-PET in small animals have been published nor has the use of Rb-PET, to the best of our knowledge, been successfully tried. Therefore, we wanted to develop and test the applicability of the method in rats, despite the high positron range of Rb. To do so, we adapted the clinical method and tested it in rats with experimentally induced myocardial infarction. CASE SUMMARY