Cardiac MRI

New research conducted at the University of Erasmus in Rotterdam may erase any lingering doubts about the superiority of 64-slice CT in detecting coronary artery disease.

While most congenital coronary anomalies in adults are harmless, some carry significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Discriminating the potentially catastrophic interarterial course of ectopic coronary arteries from other variants is crucial.

The radiation dose delivered during fluoroscopic cardiac interventional procedures is facing scrutiny. Researchers from Ireland aim to establish local x-ray dose reference levels for examinations in cardiovascular centers to produce a benchmark against which individual performance can be judged.

Research unveiled at this year’s European Society of Cardiology meeting could affect interventional strategies for treating coronary disease. Results from a U.K. multicenter trial indicate that early intervention is better than a wait-and-see policy for patients with partial vessel occlusion. Meanwhile, a Swiss team presented data questioning the cost-effectiveness of drug-eluting stents for revascularization.

Philips has released a package of enhancements and new system configurations for its ultrasound portfolio. The upgrades, known collectively as Vision 2005, include new capabilities for the company’s latest radiology and cardiology platforms.

Since the introduction of cardiac catheterization in the 1940s, development and implementation of cardiovascular imaging techniques have been a collaborative effort among several specialties, particularly radiology and cardiology. Many pioneers in CV imaging have held joint appointments.

Few MR applications have held greater promise and encountered bigger challenges than cardiac imaging. MR accurately depicts cardiac structure, function, perfusion, and myocardial viability with a capacity unmatched by any other imaging modality.

Due in part to a robust second half, the CT market in the U.S. enjoyed extraordinary sales growth in 2004. Record sales were noted in the third and fourth quarters, according to industry estimates.

Subtracted views of coronary vessels, reconstructed from CT data of the heart, may provide the means for screening patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

Radiologists interpreting scans of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism should check for signs of right heart dysfunction. This action could save a patient’s life, according to a study presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in May.

PET evaluation of myocardial blood flow adds ammunition to fears that increased obesity rates in the U.S. may lead to an epidemic of cardiovascular disease.

Despite impressive strides, multidetector CT scanner technology could still use some tweaking to maximize its utility, according to a speaker at the seventh annual Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT in San Francisco.

Nearly half of all patients whose hearts are scanned with CT may get a shocking surprise: a diagnosis of a serious problem that has nothing to do with the heart, according to a study presented today at the American Roentgen Ray Society meeting.

The 2005 Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance meeting reflected the opportunities and challenges unique to this diagnostic imaging discipline. Cardiac MR's growing professional acceptance helped spur a third consecutive attendance record this year, and the number of scientific papers and posters submitted for presentation rose as well.

The 2005 Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance meeting reflected the opportunities and challenges unique to this diagnostic imaging discipline. Cardiac MR's growing professional acceptance helped spur a third consecutive attendance record this year, and the number of scientific papers and posters submitted for presentation rose as well.

For the first time, researchers have used high-resolution microCT to identify microcalcific components of coronary artery vulnerable plaques. Although the technique could help stratify high-risk patients, clinical utility will have to wait until further advances are made in conventional CT image resolution.

A contaminated radioisotope used in cardiac stress tests has been blamed for more than a dozen cases of hepatitis C contracted by patients in Maryland, according to a report released Monday by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Polar maps of the coronary arteries that provide information regarding morphology and patency in a single image could potentially speed up diagnosis. But the technology still has some bugs in it, according to research presented at the European Congress of Radiology.

Radiation exposure has been a dicey issue for researchers developing multislice CT coronary artery imaging. According to critics, MSCT exposes patients to twice as much ionizing radiation as conventional cardiac catheterization.

Being a specialist in cardiovascular imaging, I have followed the development of cardiac topics at the ECR since 1991. Tremendous changes have occurred over this period.

CT is moving beyond detection and quantification of coronary artery calcium to grading of coronary stenoses, identifying not only vulnerable plaques but, more important, vulnerable patients. Yet its ultimate role in predicting risk of cardiac events remains unclear.

As a one-stop scanning tool for everything from abdominal trauma to chest pain, CT is fast becoming an emergency room's best friend. Medical centers save trauma treatment costs by taking less staff to support a patient until a diagnosis is made, and they improve emergency care by cutting the time patients spend being imaged before being stabilized and acutely managed.