With an ever-growing number of nuclear cardiology studies being performed annually and recognized accreditation and certification programs in place, nuclear cardiology has become an established and widely practiced medical specialty. In Nuclear Cardiology: The Basics-How to Set Up and Maintain a Laboratory, pioneers, authorities, and leading thinkers in the field comprehensively describe how to establish and run a well-organized and state-of-the-art nuclear cardiology laboratory. Topics range widely from basic questions on purchasing equipment and determining space requirements to such day-to-day problems as scheduling patients and deciding what to tell them prior to arriving in the laboratory. For operational basics, these seasoned experts detail radiation safety requirements, imaging and procedure protocols, routine quality assurance rules, billing procedures, dealing with commonly encountered artifacts, and preparing for accreditation. In addition, they discuss laboratory logistics, appropriate clinical protocols for stress studies, issues relating to laboratory networking, and questions of dictation and reporting, coding, and reimbursement. Several chapters are devoted to the technical aspects of performing studies, such as the acquisition parameters relevant for high quality studies, processing parameters, and quantification and display options. An accompanying compact disc provides full color digital copies of all the illustrations in the book, as well as video clips.
Comprehensive and highly practical, Nuclear Cardiology: The Basics-How to Set Up and Maintain a Laboratory offers the first concise, action-oriented plan for successful solution of the many practical and technical details that result in a nuclear cardiology laboratory operating at a high level of competence.

Klappentext

In the United States the performance of nuclear cardiology studies continues to increase. As an example, in 1998, 4,160,739 myocardial perfusion imaging st- ies were done. In 2001 this number increased to 5,679,258. The nonhospital performance of perfusion imaging increased over the same time period from 1,188,731 to 1,789,207 studies (Arlington Medical Resources data). In 1999, there were approximately 1300 nonhospital sites with nuclear imaging capabi- ties, of which 600 were in physician's offices. By 2001, there were approximately 1700 nonhospital sites, of which 780 were in physician's offices (from IMV, LTD: http://www.imvlimited.com/mid/). The growth of nuclear cardiology as an expanded outpatient laboratory ent- prise is readily apparent. In the United States, as well as in other parts of the world, this growth has been linked to the recognition of the ability of cardiologists to perform these studies. The certification examination in nuclear cardiology is now well established in the United States. Accreditation of laboratories is also well established. Over the years, some of the most frequent questions asked by our former trainees relate to practical issues involved in the establishment of a nuclear cardiology laboratory. In view of the growth of the field, this is certainly not surprising.

Inhalt

How to Use the CD Getting Started Laboratory Logistics Radiation Safety Patient Preparation Stress Procedures SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging Acquisition and Processing Protocols Planar Myocardial Perfusion Imaging Acquisition and Processing Protocols Planar Equilibrium Radionuclide Angiocardiography Acquisition and Processing Protocols SPECT Equilibrium Radionuclide Angiocardiography Acquisition and Processing Protocols Display and Analysis of SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Images Display and Analysis of Planar Myocardial Perfusion Images Display and Analysis of Planar Equilibrium Angiocardiography Display and Analysis of SPECT Equilibrium Radionuclide Angiocardiography Artifacts and Technical Problems in Cardiac Imaging Nuclear Cardiology Reports Remote Reading and Networking: Tele-Nuclear Cardiology Quality Assurance Miscellaneous Additional Laboratory Protocols and Policies Emergency Department Chest-Pain Center Imaging Coding and Billing Laboratory Accreditation Index