If you are concerned about your risk for coronary artery disease then you've probably looked into getting preventive health screening. This type of screening is important to catching the disease in the early stages so that you can correct the problem and save your heart. However, if you're going with the standard screening recommendation from your doctor, you might not be getting all of the care that you need in these important early stages.
That's because there are many different ways to screen for coronary artery disease but it's only recently been discovered that the most effective of these ways is through the PET scan. Research found that although the MRA, CTA and perfusion imaging are all good methods of screening for this disease, none of them is nearly as good as using a PET scan.
"What we found after looking at 19 studies and more than 1,400 patients is that PET's high specificity and sensitivity are better than almost all forms of functional imaging and likely all anatomical imaging," said study co-author Dr. Kiran Nandalur, a staff radiologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI.
This isn't information that's coming from brand new patients either. This study reviewed scans that took place over the last thirty years! That presents some solid evidence that the PET scan is the one that you want to ask your doctor about if you're concerned about this aspect of your health.
Question of the Day: Which scan have you heard most often as recommended for coronary artery disease?
