In simple words: This is a nuclear imaging test that uses a PET scan along with a CT scan to show how well your heart muscle is working. It helps doctors see how your heart is using oxygen and sugar, and how well it's pumping blood. It can help detect heart problems.

Myocardial imaging by positron emission tomography (PET) scan is diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging that produces three-dimensional images to show how the heart muscle is working. Simultaneous computed tomography (CT) transmission scanning and PET imaging help the provider determine whether activity is physiologic (i.e., a natural function) as opposed to pathologic (indicative of a disease process). It also helps correct for attenuation, spatial registration and alignment, and motion, and allows for precise localization of radionuclide activity. Concurrent imaging also shortens imaging time. The provider injects a radioactive tracer into the bloodstream of the patient. This radionuclide is created by applying a radioactive atom to any biological compound or drug. The radionuclide travels in the bloodstream and reaches the heart. Once in the target area, this radionuclide breaks into tiny positively charged particles called positrons, which emit gamma rays. The PET and CT scanners detect the gamma rays given off by the radioactive substance. The computer then processes the emitted data to produce multidimensional images of the distribution of the drug or biological compound throughout the heart muscle. The provider may also evaluate ventricular wall motion (the pumping action of the heart) and the ejection fraction (the percentage of blood pumped out of a filled ventricle with each heartbeat).

Example 1: A patient with suspected coronary artery disease undergoes a PET myocardial perfusion imaging study with CT transmission scan to evaluate myocardial blood flow., A patient with a history of heart attack has a PET myocardial viability study with CT transmission scan to assess the extent of damaged heart muscle., A patient with heart failure undergoes a PET myocardial metabolic evaluation study with CT transmission scan to evaluate heart function and metabolism.

Documentation should include the indication for the study, the type of radiopharmaceutical used, the results of the imaging, including ventricular wall motion and ejection fraction (if performed), and the interpretation of the findings.