| Table 2: Principal characteristics of PET tracers for cardiovascular imaging. |
| | Tracer | Production | Half-life | Extraction | Myocardial uptake mechanism |
| | 13N-ammonia | Cyclotron | 10 min | 80% | Diffusion/metabolic trapping (perfusion) | | 82Rubidium | Generator | 78 sec | 50–60% | Na/K-ATPase (perfusion) | | 15O-water | Cyclotron | 2.1 min | 100% | Free diffusion (perfusion) | | F-18 FDG | Cyclotron | 110 min | 1–3% | Glucose transport/hexokinase (viability) |
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PET: positron emission tomography; Na/K-ATPase: sodium/potassium-ATPase; FDG: fluorodeoxyglucose.
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