Cardiac Radionuclide Imaging After Coronary Artery Revascularization

In the last decades, advances in the therapeutic options for cardiovascular diseases, coupled with improvements in imaging technology contributed to the explosive growth in the number of cardiovascular imaging procedures performed, which also raised concern about overuse. The decision whether cardiac imaging is reasonable or not should be based on how the information gained will influence subsequent patient care and outcomes. Appropriate use criteria have been developed by the major scientific societies and the resulting documents aim to categorize specific clinical scenarios and to indicate whether an imaging test is reasonable to perform, or whether the test has uncertain or inappropriate indications. Imaging decisions based on these authoritative criteria provides assurance that the test is reasonable and the clinical benefits outweigh the potential risks. This review focuses on the value of cardiac radionuclide imaging after coronary artery revascularization, in particular in clinical subgroups of subjects for whom uncertainty still exist.