The first acquisitions in cardiology begun in our lab in 1987. Models for tracer accumulation had therefore to be developped and adapted. In animals validation studies proved the accuracy of myocardial blood flow estimations with PET against microspheres.
Several problems are specific to cardiac imaging, such as spillover and partial volume effects.
Spillover results from proximity of blood pool and tissue regions. Therefore, activity counts are lower and underestimation of blood flow and metabolism may result. An algorythm using a Monte-Carlo simulation permitting correction for these effects has been made in our laboratory. Reversible myocardial dysfunction in ischemic cardiomyopathy is classically thought to be mainly represented by hibernating myocardium, that is myocardium that is thought to be chronically hypoperfused. A first study was performed in 16 patients with LAD occludes collateral dependent non-infarcted myocardium.