Abstract
The indications and methods for and volumes of nuclear cardiology procedures differ among countries, and each country has specific nuclear cardiology characteristics. Nuclear cardiology practice in Japan has the following specific characteristics: 1) stress myocardial perfusion imaging is severely underused; 2) thallium-201 (201Tl) is frequently used for perfusion imaging, which might increase the public radiation burden; 3) iodine-123-labeled beta-methyl-iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (123I-BMIPP) is readily available for cardiac imaging, which has resulted in large amounts of evidence about the utility of this technique being collected in Japan; and 4) 123I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG)-based imaging is readily available for examining cardiac and neurological disease, especially Parkinson’s disease. In some respects, Japan is behind the global standard and must follow the lead of other countries (issues 1 and 2). However, in other areas Japanese nuclear cardiologists can pave the way for other countries (issues 3 and 4). These issues were presented and discussed at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology in 2017.
