PET/CT Scanning - McLaren offers Myocardial Viability testing to determine heart muscle health. The test combines two sophisticated imaging techniques, positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT), to help doctors identify blood flow and viable muscle within areas of the heart. Cardiac PET/CT scans are painless and noninvasive, performed by a doctor on an outpatient basis.
The highly sensitive scans help cardiologists and surgeons evaluate high-risk cardiac patients with a great degree of accuracy, prior to potentially serious cardiac procedures and surgeries. Physicians who are considering these procedures can refer patients and get results often within 72 hours.
Scan results are interpreted by a board-certified specialist with extensive experience in cardiac PET imaging.
Patients having the Myocardial Viability test lie on an exam table, while a technologist injects a safe, radioactive substance called a tracer into a vein. The tracer travels through the body to the heart and releases energy. The PET/CT scanner detects this energy and, with the help of a computer, produces extremely detailed pictures of the heart and how it's working.