Nuclear Molecular

For more than 100 years, Mount Sinai physicians have pioneered new technologies to diagnose and treat heart disease. Our rich history in cardiac testing stretches back to 1909, when Alfred E. Cohn, a Mount Sinai cardiologist, brought the first electrocardiogram machine to the United States. Since then, Mount Sinai physicians have continued to make fundamental contributions to the development of cardiac testing including exercise stress testing, cardiac ultrasound imaging, arrhythmia detection, and high-resolution imaging.

Here are some of the ways that we continue to push the boundaries of cardiac imaging.

• In April 2010, we became the first medical center in the United States to use cadmium zinc telluride, the latest generation of imaging cameras for stress testing, resulting in faster, safer, and more accurate detection of heart disease. "The cadmium zinc telluride technology improves image quality while significantly reducing the patient’s exposure to radiation, says Lori Croft, MD, Associate Professor and Director of Nuclear Cardiology Laboratory. “Additionally, we are able to reduce the imaging time from 15 to 20 minutes to only 3 to 5 minutes.” 
• We were the first hospital in the world to pair ultra-powerful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner in the same room. The combination of the PET's ability to detect diseased heart cells and the MRI's three-dimensional resolution allows physicians to diagnose and pinpoint heart problems at earlier. Zahi A. Fayad, PhD, Director of the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute and Professor of Cardiology, is directing this effort, which offers unparalleled resolution of heart and blood vessel imaging and information about inflammation and other markers of disease.
• Mount Sinai Heart is thoroughly expert at echocardiography, performing more than 10,000 echocardiograms every year. The newest advance in this imaging technology is three-dimensional echocardiography: a series of images that, when viewed in sequence, offers surgeons a view of heart valves as they would appear in the operating room.

Nuclear cardiology studies use noninvasive techniques to assess myocardial blood flow, evaluate the pumping function of the heart, and visualize the size and location of heart attacks.