Evaluation of Diastolic Function by Radionuclide Techniques

Radioactive tracers in cardiology are commonly used in patients with known or suspected cardiac disease. Historically, radiotracer techniques were among the first used to assess systolic and diastolic function, but they have been gradually replaced by echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance. In current practice, radionuclide techniques are almost exclusively used to evaluate myocardial perfusion. Nonetheless, the principles of radionuclide assessment of diastolic function can be adjunctively applied to the myocardial perfusion studies. This can be of incremental clinical utility enhancing the sensitivity of myocardial perfusion studies. Moreover, the identification of diastolic dysfunction during a negative perfusion study may assist in the preclinical identification of cardiac abnormalities in patients with hypertensive heart disease, chemotherapy cardiotoxicity, or even microvascular dysfunction.