Radiopharmaceuticals for Studying Heart Disease

Nuclear medical diagnostic procedures for heart disease have received increased research attention over the last several years. At present these procedures must be considered as research procedures rather than as clinical procedures because the radioindicators available do not satisfy our criteria well enough to warrant their widespread distribution as radiopharmaceuticals. Of course, some are nearer to the ideal than are others. We will discuss various studies which have been done to determine 1) myocardial blood flow, 2) myocardial contractility, 3) extent of tissue damage from infarct and ischemia, and 4) cardiovascular thrombi. We will describe the radionuclides and radiolabeled compounds which are in current use, how they are made, and how well they perform as radiopharmaceuticals. Finally, we will discuss future radiopharmaceuticals for use in studying coronary heart disease and what hope there is, in our opinion, for the 800,000 people who die each year from heart disease.