Purpose of review: After a warm-up period of imaging research, several modalities of positron emission tomography (PET) are under development for evaluating ischemic heart disease.
Recent findings: Several types of well-documented stem/progenitor PET imaging have been utilized for changes in myocardial blood flow and carbohydrate metabolism. Some recent experimental and human studies reported that these data may have beneficial effects on cardiac research.
Summary: Although the role of PET in the pathology of ischemic heart disease has not been sufficiently elucidated, many studies attempting imaging research of myocardial metabolism and neural regulation have been reported. Further studies are needed to better evaluate the potential of PET in evaluating ischemic heart disease.
Keywords: Positron emission tomography; cardiac research; ischemic heart disease.