Author Description

There have been major advances in the applications of radioactive tracers to study the circulation in the fifty years since Blumgart first employed radon intravenously and a cloud chamber to measure the circulation time in man. Tracer techniques are now available for detection of congenital cardiac defects and the presence of valvular heart disease, for evaluation of myocardial perfusion and function, for determination of the distribution of peripheral and pulmonary perfusion, and for measurement of the levels of cardioactive drugs and hormones. This book provides a broad overview of the strengths and weaknesses of tracer procedures as applied to the clinical evaluation of cardiovascular disease, so that specialists in both nuclear medicine and cardiology can know when and how these procedures can benefit their patients.