Nuclear Cardiology allows your physician to detect blockages in the heart’s blood vessels. Using radioactive substances combined with exercise or pharmacologic stress, pictures are generated to determine how well blood flows through your heart muscle and can show areas of heart muscle that are not receiving enough blood flow.

Nuclear Cardiology services provide a key tool for the diagnosis and management of adults with heart disease. The following services are available:

• Exercise and Rest Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (also called an exercise MIBI) assesses coronary artery disease via treadmill stress testing and can detect blockages significant enough to prevent adequate blood flow to the heart during exercise. These tests also identify damage done to the heart from prior heart attacks and also provide an assessment of the contracting performance of your heart.
• Pharmacologic Stress Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (also called pharmacologic MIBI) uses medications (e.g. regadenoson) to simulate the physiologic effect of exercise in those who are unable to perform on a treadmill test. In addition to the inability to exercise, there are some cases, such as in patients with pacemakers or abnormalities on their electrocardiogram, when this type of pharmacologic stress test may provide better information than an exercise evaluation.

Useful Links:

• AHA