Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance

The present book offers a bird's eye view of the clinical potential of nuclear medical techniques (including nuclear and magnetic resonance) in the practice of cardiology. It is based on 16 review publications which cover the most important areas in clinical cardiovascular nuclear medicine.
The book has been grossly divided into three sections: (1) Physiology, (2) Techniques, and (3) Clinical Applications. The Physiology section deals with the nuclear medicine background of myocardial perfusion, myocardial metabolism, and cardiac function (Chapters 1, 2, and 3). The Techniques sections discusses the planar techniques, in particular for the perfusion tracer thallium-201, the Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) technique, and the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) technique (Chapters 4, 5 and 6). This section also addresses the physical background of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (Chapter 7). The Clinical Applications section discusses the value of nuclear cardiology for a variety of cardiac diseases from detection ofmyocardial infarction to its merits for evaluating cardiomyopathies (Chapters 8-14). Chapter 10 shortly addresses the experimental and clinical value of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS). Chapter 15 describes the latest developments in nuclear cardiology with an emphasis on new cardiac imaging agents. Finally, Chapter 16 presents the currently advocated Guidelines in Nuclear Cardiology.
The book will assist the clinical cardiologist, the cardiology resident, the nuclear medicine physician, and the radiologist in understanding the currently used cardiovascular nuclear medicine techniques. It will broaden knowledge of the nuclear cardiology techniques and will show the reader how indispensable these techniques are in clinical cardiology practice.