Current status of viability assessment with positron tomography

Accurate detection of reversible myocardium has great clinical importance, especially in patients being considered for interventional therapy. Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorine 18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has been used for this purpose, based on the residual metabolic activity in reversible ischemic areas. Although thallium imaging has been widely used for the evaluation of tissue viability in clinical cardiology, PET-FDG may provide independent values and thus may enhance the accuracy of studies for identifying ischemic myocardium. This review considers the advantages of PET technique, the clinical value of PET-FDG for assessing tissue viability, and the development of other new PET techniques.