QUANTITATIVE MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGING - QUO-VADIS - (WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE)

Quantitative myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography can be improved further by technical advancements that are imminent in the clinical setting. These improvements are directed toward two main goals: (1) increasing the accuracy that the myocardial count distribution from tomographic slices represents the true tracer concentration and (2) increasing the accuracy of extracting this myocardial count distribution for quantitative analysis. Once these advancements are fully validated and implemented clinically, the clinical value of these cardiac diagnostic tests will be enhanced by increased accuracy of detecting and characterizing myocardial hypoperfusion and coronary artery disease.