PET Heart Scans
PET is the most accurate non-invasive test to reveal coronary artery disease or exclude its presence. The cost of this test is comparable to or even lower than other diagnostic tests. It is covered by Medicare and private insurance carriers.

Positron Emision Tomography is one of the newest, most advanced methods for studying the heart. Like an x-ray, PET is painless and noninvasive, requiring only an intravenous injection. But unlike the x-ray, PET does more than show a picture of the heart. It actually gives an image of the health of the heart.

What are PET scans used for?
The test has three basic purposes:
It can detect the presence of coronary artery disease (narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart).

It can provide information about the health of the heart muscle, for example, after a heart attack.

It can be used to confirm other tests in which a false positive is suspected.

In some patients, PET can avoid the need for additional tests such as cardiac catheterization, in which a thin tube - a catheter-is threaded through a blood vessel and into the heart.

How does the test work?
The test uses a PET camera, which is a large machine shaped like a ring standing on edge. You will lie on a bed, and be positioned with your chest centered in the ring.

During the scan, a small amount of medicine, known as a "tracer," is introduced into an arm vein through an intravenous catheter.

You will also be given a drug which increases blood flow through the normal arteries in your heart. Blood flow will not be increased in arteries that are blocked. Differences in blood flow are detected by the PET scanner, which creates a picture of the blood flow to the heart tissue. The doctor can use this information to plan treatment.