PET/CT Study in the Diagnosis of Coronary Plaque

Comparison of Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) With Coronary Angiography (CA) and Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) in the Diagnosis and Characterization of Coronary Artery Plaque

This study is being done to determine if a picture taking test of the heart, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (or cardiac PET/CT), can identify the blockages in the heart arteries that lead to heart attacks when compared to the standard of heart catheterization.

Heart catheterization, in which a thin plastic tube, or catheter, is placed into an artery in the arm or leg and advanced into the heart arteries, is the procedure that you and your doctor have decided to pursue to look for heart artery blockages. It is being performed as part of your standard care and not for research purposes. The research procedure (cardiac PET/CT), which will be performed at a later date is a combination of heart CT (a test that involves the use of x-rays to identify heart artery blockages) and heart PET (an imaging test that uses a radioactive drug to look at how the heart uses fuel (sugar and fats) These tests will be combined (PET/CT) to look for the presence and type of blockage in your heart arteries.

It is important to develop a test that can determine if and what type of blockage you have in your heart arteries as the presence and type of heart artery blockage is a very important predictor of heart attack and death from heart attack.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years oof age or older
• referred for cardiac catheterization.
• coronary artery disease that does not need angioplasty.

Exclusion Criteria:

• history of cardiac stents
• bypass surgery
• bad kidney function
• unable to take beta blocker medication
• history of asthma
• allergies to egg containing products
• atrial fibrillation
• pregnancy
• breastfeeding
• overweight by definition of a BMI over 35.