UH First Site in Ohio to Provide More Accurate and Convenient PET MPI Cardiac Stress Test

Boake Sells of Beachwood receives the first injection of Flyrcado^TM prior to taking his cardiac stress test and PET MPI at UH Cleveland Medical Center.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute is the first site in the state of Ohio to clinically administer the FDA-approved Flyrcado™ (flurpiridaz F 18) injection to patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). This first-of-its-kind F 18 radiopharmaceutical helps physicians better detect CAD or blockages in heart arteries that can lead to heart attacks.

Flyrcado is an advanced positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) agent designed to assess how well the heart functions under stress. It is used during cardiac stress tests, which evaluate blood flow to the heart muscle either through physical exercise or pharmacologic agents that simulate stress by dilating coronary arteries or increasing heart rate. Flyrcado enables clinicians to visualize perfusion with precision, supporting more accurate diagnoses and informed treatment decisions.

A nuclear stress test uses injected radioactive tracers to create detailed images of the heart. PET scans can yield better quality pictures of the perfusion in the heart than SPECT imaging, the current standard of care, especially in patients who may be more difficult to image, such as those who are overweight or obese or have significant breast tissue.

Unlike traditional PET MPI tracers that degrade rapidly and require on-site production with costly equipment, Flyrcado offers a transformative advantage. With a half-life approximately 10 times longer than currently available cardiac PET radiotracers, Flyrcado enables centralized manufacturing and broader distribution – making advanced cardiac imaging more accessible. Its extended decay time also allows clinicians the flexibility to rescan patients during the same session if needed, enhancing image quality and improving the overall patient and provider experience.

“With PET MPI, we will be better equipped to show blood flow through the heart muscle and evaluate the presence, extent, and degree of potential coronary artery disease,” said Dr. James Cireddu, MD, FACC, Cardiologist and System Director of Nuclear Cardiology at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute. “UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute strives to be at the forefront of cardiac care. As early adopters of this technology, we hope to gain more information from these tests and provide our patients with a potentially more accurate diagnosis.”

CAD is caused by cholesterol and inflammatory plaque buildup in the arteries that supply blood to the heart and is the most common form of heart disease. CAD remains the leading cause of death for men and women in the U.S. For some people, the first sign of CAD is a heart attack. Testing like PET MPI provides crucial information for patients so they can undergo life-saving interventions if needed, such as stents and bypass surgery, with the goal of avoiding an adverse event like a heart attack and damage to the heart muscle.

Leaders from both cardiology and radiology drove a coordinated effort to bring this new, beneficial option to patients at UH.

“Flyrcado represents one of the most groundbreaking advancements in nuclear cardiology in decades,” said Patrick Wojtylak, Radiology System Manager for Nuclear Medicine at UH Cleveland Medical Center. “While PET MPI offers superior diagnostic accuracy compared to SPECT MPI, its use remains limited in the U.S. This underutilization is largely due to restricted access to current PET tracers. Flyrcado may help overcome this by making it available to regional and community hospital settings.”

Because of restrictions with PET testing, currently, patients throughout Northeast Ohio must typically travel to the large medical centers in Cleveland for a cardiac PET procedure. But the extended half-life of Flyrcado allows for centralized production and distribution, making PET MPI more accessible to a broader range of healthcare facilities and imaging centers.

“Offering this new type of imaging marks an important milestone for us in our goal to provide the best quality care to patients close to home,” said Dr. Cireddu. “We believe providing PET MPI throughout sites across Northeast Ohio will significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of coronary artery disease in our patients and allow the technology to be conveniently adopted throughout the community by removing geographic barriers.”

PET MPI stress testing is now available at UH Cleveland Medical Center, with plans to expand usage to a number of UH community hospitals in the coming months.