Hybrid cardiac imaging: SPECT/CT and PET/CT. A joint position statement by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), the European Society of Cardiac Radiology (ESCR) and the European Council of Nuclear Cardiology (ECNC)

Abstract

Improvements in software and hardware have enabled the integration of dual imaging modalities into hybrid systems, which allow combined acquisition of the different data sets. Integration of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scanners into PET/CT systems has shown improvement in the management of patients with cancer over stand-alone acquired CT and PET images. Hybrid cardiac imaging either with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or PET combined with CT depicts cardiac and vascular anatomical abnormalities and their physiologic consequences in a single setting and appears to offer superior information compared with either stand-alone or side-by-side interpretation of the data sets in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). Hybrid systems are also advantageous for the patient because of the single short dual data acquisition. However, hybrid cardiac imaging has also generated controversy with regard to which patients should undergo such integrated examination for clinical effectiveness and minimization of costs and radiation dose, and if software-based fusion of images obtained separately would be a useful alternative. The European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), the European Society of Cardiac Radiology (ESCR) and the European Council of Nuclear Cardiology (ECNC) in this paper want to present a position statement of the institutions on the current roles of SPECT/CT and PET/CT hybrid cardiac imaging in patients with known or suspected CAD.