Heart - Cardiology & Cardiovascular Surgery

Cardiac PET-CT Imaging Laboratory

Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital offers the most advanced heart imaging techniques. Cardiac PET-CT combines positron emission tomography (PET) technology with computed tomography (CT) and is offered at Mount Sinai Morningside. We offer three types of cardiac PET-CT tests:

  • Cardiac PET stress test: Also known as PET myocardial perfusion, this technique lets us check the blood flow to your heart.
  • Cardiac PET viability test: This determines whether your heart muscle have experienced damage related to reduced blood supply from blockages in arteries feeding the heart.
  • Cardiac PET test for inflammation and infection: This imaging test detects inflammation of the heart muscle or infection in the heart or surrounding devices or valves placed in the heart.

Cardiac PET CT offers superior image quality and is an excellent method to evaluate cardiac blood flow or perfusion. It uses a radioactive molecule called rubidium, and Mount Sinai Morningside is one of the few facilities in the New York area with an onsite rubidium generator. Because of rubidium’s short half-life, this test exposes you to less radiation than other cardiac imaging tests, such as SPECT, and provides higher quality images of the heart.

If you are having a scan, please read the detailed instructions on preparing for a cardiac PET-CT scan. If you are having a PET-CT test for inflammation or infection due to sarcoidosis, please download the instructions.

The main advantages of a cardiac PET-CT stress test, compared with other forms of stress tests, are:

  • High degree of accuracy for detecting major blockages
  • Because rubidium has high energy, this technique is more diagnostic in patients with high body mass index
  • Extremely low radiation exposure
  • Has the ability to quantify the amount of blood flow reaching your heart muscle. This can help us detect disease in vessels of the heart that are too small to be seen by the naked eye on an angiogram
  • Streamlined exam process—the entire test is complete in about 30 minutes
  •  The coronary artery calcium score, another measure of your heart health, can be measured from the CT imaging
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