Key Points

• A nuclear heart scan is a type of medical test that allows your doctor to get important information about the health of your heart. The test uses radioactive tracers to study how blood flows in your heart.
• Nuclear heart scans are used to provide information about the flow of blood throughout the heart muscle, check for damaged heart muscle, and see how well your heart pumps blood to your body.
• The two main types of nuclear heart scanning are single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT) and cardiac positron emission tomography (PET). SPECT is the most well-established and widely used type, while PET is newer.
• A nuclear heart scan often takes two sets of pictures, one while the heart is beating faster than normal and one when the heart is resting. To get your heart to beat faster than normal, you will be asked to exercise on a treadmill or stationary bike, or you will be given medicine.
• After the exercise part of the test, you will lie very still on a padded table. A camera called a gamma camera will take pictures of your heart from various positions around your body.
• A nuclear heart scan can take a lot of time—sometimes 2 to 5 hours in a single day. You may be asked to return on a second day for another set of pictures.
• Most people can go back to their normal daily activities after a nuclear heart scan.
• Your doctor or the cardiologist or radiologist who performed the nuclear heart scan will contact you with the results.
• A nuclear heart scan can help doctors:
  • Diagnose and manage certain heart diseases such as coronary artery disease (CAD)
  • Determine your risk for a heart attack
  • Decide whether other heart tests or procedures will help you
  • Monitor procedures or surgeries that have been done
• Nuclear heart scanning has very few risks. If you have CAD, you may have chest pain during exercise or when you take medicine to increase your heart rate. Some people may be allergic to the radioactive tracer used during the scan, but this is very rare.