Dennis Calnon, MD, MASNC, nuclear cardiologist and director of cardiac imaging at the OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, was installed as president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) for 2022. Dr. Calnon set the stage for his term at the recent ASNC2021 Annual Scientific Session, where his President-elect Address assessed the state of nuclear cardiology and presented the specialty’s practitioners with a call to action.

“The state of nuclear cardiology is very, very strong,” Dr. Calnon announced. He cited the unrivaled versatility and feasibility of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and the trust the modality has earned from clinicians for guiding their patients’ care. He also noted the growing recognition of cardiac PET; the “game-changer” role that myocardial blood flow measurement is poised to take; and emerging applications for MPI for diagnosing cardiac amyloidosis, cardias sarcoidosis and infection.

Regarding threats the specialty may face in the future, Dr. Calnon emphasized ASNC’s strengths and highlighted the Society’s #PatientFirst philosophy. “ASNC is and always has been a patient-first organization,” Dr. Calnon said, “and ASNC’s priority is and always will be the patient, not the test.”
He went on to challenge nuclear cardiology practitioners to respond to a two-part call to action. First, he said, “All of us – physicians, technologists and industry – need to work together to educate referring physicians, payers and policymakers about the clinical value of nuclear cardiology to ensure continued patient access.”

The second part of Dr. Calnon’s call to action was a push for ongoing lab modernization. Drawing on key takeaways from ASNC’s Virtual Reading Room webinars, which he moderated in 2021, Dr. Calnon urged nuclear cardiologists to keep their equipment current; embrace routine use of attenuation correction, stress-first/only imaging and coronary calcium assessment; incorporate myocardial blood flow measurement with SPECT; and examine the value of cardiac PET for their patients.

"I know it’s much easier to simply stay with what we’re comfortable with and perform our studies the way we’ve been doing them for years,” he said, “... but we need to modernize in order for our field to stay successful in the years ahead.”

Pointing to ASNC’s various online resource centers and educational programs, he pledged the Society’s support as the field takes on both challenges. “We can do amazing things if we all work together,” he concluded.

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