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PET Scan Effective for Heart Disease Diagnosis
Researchers from the University of Buffalo recently completed a study that found that positron emission tomography, or PET, scanning is more effective for the diagnosis and management of heart disease than any other type of imaging. In addition, PET scans are more cost effective than other imaging techniques, the study showed. Results of the study provide a rationale for PET scanning to become the initial diagnostic test for assessing a patient's risk of heart attack.
PET currently is used clinically primarily for cancer patients. A Web site advocating the use of PET scanning in clinical cardiology lists only 25 sites in the U.S. that perform coronary PET scanning. Because little peer-reviewed literature exists comparing PET to SPECT, the current standard, coronary PET scanning is considered experimental. Researchers compared cost and outcome data of 102 patients who were imaged with SPECT with data from 2,159 patients who had PET and were matched by extent of coronary artery disease. They also compared data from the 102 SPECT patients with data from a national multi-center trial to confirm that outcomes were valid.
Results showed that both the rate of heart attack and cardiac death were significantly lower after one year in patients managed by PET. The number of angiograms, balloon angioplasty with stenting and coronary bypass surgery also was significantly lower in the PET-managed patients. The average cost to manage a patient with coronary artery disease in this study was 25 percent lower in the PET group.
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