DEFINITION of CARDIAC RADIOPHARMACEUTICAL:
A radioactive drug which, when administered for purpose of diagnosis of heart disease, typically elicits no physiological response from the patient. Even though non-radioactive thallium is extremely cardiotoxic, it is not dangerous to administer a 3 mCi IV dose of Tl-201 thallous chloride to a patient since the dose only contains ~40 ng of Tl¹⁺.

PROPERTIES OF IDEAL CARDIAC AGENTS/MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION IMAGING AGENT

CATEGORIES OF RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS FOR MYOCARDIAL IMAGING
Myocardial perfusion agents (Tl-201, Rb-82, Tc-99m agents)
Blood Pool agents (Tc-RBC)
Myocardial Viability Agents, e.g., F-18 FDG
Myocardial metabolism agents, for example, labeled fatty acids
Myocardial necrosis agents, for example, labeled monoclonal antibodies
Labeled lipoproteins for imaging atherosclerosis, e.g., I-123 HDL, I-123 LDL

● OTHER CARDIAC IMAGING

●Infarct Imaging
●Other Uses of 99mTc Sestamibi