title: Diagnostic value of (18)F-FDG PET in the assessment of myocardial viability in coronary artery disease: A comparative study with (99m)Tc SPECT and echocardiography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the diagnostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)F-FDG PET) in the assessment of myocardial viability in patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD) when compared to (99m)Tc single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and echocardiography, with invasive coronary angiography as the gold standard.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with diagnosed CAD met the selection criteria, with 10 of them (9 men, mean age 59.5 ± 10.5 years) undergoing all of these imaging procedures consisting of SPECT and PET, echocardiography and invasive angiography. Diagnostic sensitivity of these less invasive modalities for detection of myocardial viability was compared to invasive coronary angiography. Inter- and intra-observer agreement was assessed for diagnostic performance of SPECT and PET.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of all patients with proven CAD, 50% had triple vessel disease. Diagnostic sensitivity of SPECT, PET and echocardiography was 90%, 100% and 80% at patient-based assessment, respectively. Excellent agreement was achieved between inter-observer and intra-observer agreement of the diagnostic value of SPECT and PET in myocardial viability (k = 0.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  (18)F-FDG PET has high diagnostic value in the assessment of myocardial viability in patients with known CAD when compared to SPECT and echocardiography. Further studies based on a large cohort with incorporation of (18)F-FDG PET into patient management are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ; Discipline of Medical Imaging, Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987 Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Moudi
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Medical Imaging, Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987 Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.
authors.forename: Zhong-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Sun
keywords: Coronary artery disease; Diagnostic value; Positron emission tomography; Single photon emission computed tomography; Viability