Includes Index

Nuclear cardiology has become the mainstay of many
departments of nuclear medicine, driving what was
once an academic and sometimes eccentric specialty
into what is today the centre of many patients’ lives.
As nuclear cardiology has matured our concerns have
shifted from how can we do this to how can we do this
better. Many of the most recent publications in nuclear
cardiology have focused upon how imaging and reporting quality can be improved, i.e. how to be more consistent in what we do and how to be more reliable with
regard to our diagnoses.
Coronary artery disease and Ischaemic heart disease
affects people from all countries and all social strata.
The idea that it is a disease only of the affluent West has
been shown to be untrue and as a consequence, nuclear
cardiology has become a truly global specialty. This is
reflected in the fact that the number of practitioners in
nuclear cardiology is increasing and despite the arrival
of cardiac CT and cardiac MRI, demand continues to
grow. In response to the importance of the subject we
have brought together experts not only from Europe and
North America but also from the emerging centres of
excellence in Asia to produce a book with a truly global
perspective on the role of nuclear cardiology in patients
with heart disease.
The editors have worked closely with cardiovascular
physicians around the globe to produce a book that will
be essential reading for those practising nuclear cardiology, as it provides information on basic anatomy and
physiology, on the technical aspects of the methodology
and how the results can affect clinical management. All
this they could not do themselves. The editors therefore
wish to thank the authors for their contributions, the
team at Springer for bringing the disparate manuscripts
into a single text and those who read the manuscripts for
providing us with insightful comments, which enabled
us to improve the text. The editors also wish to thank
those AVA/medical illustration units worldwide producing high quality illustrations including the AVA unit
at the Royal Free Hospital for their skills in graphics.
The editors hope that you enjoy the efforts of all these
professionals and hope that you will read this text, learn
from it and apply something new and beneficial for the
care of your patients.