Role of Cardiac Imaging in Heart Failure

Non-invasive cardiac imaging plays a pivotal role in the contemporary care of heart failure. It has a tremendous potential for better comprehension of the mechanism of heart failure, detection of subclinical disease, assessment and classification of the current state of the established disease and provision of insights regarding prognosis and response to therapy. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), cardiac computed tomography (CCT) and nuclear cardiology provide robust diagnostic and prognostic information. CMR provides the most comprehensive information but it is limited by the availability. Nuclear cardiology, particularly positron emission tomography (PET), provides high diagnostic yield and has exceptional potential in molecular imaging, but is limited by the ionizing radiation and availability. CCT has an established role in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and an evolving role in tissue characterization, but like nuclear cardiology, it is limited by associated radiation exposure. This chapter discusses the role of CMR, CCT and nuclear cardiology in the management of heart failure.

Keywords: Cardiac Computed Tomography, Cardiac computed Tomography Angiography, Cardiomyopathy, Cardiovascular Mgnetic Resonance, Coronary Artery Disease, Myocardial Delayed Enhancement, Diastolic Dysfunction, Ejection Fraction, Gated SPECT, Heart Failure, Late Gadolinium Enhancement, Micro-Vascular Obstruction, Myocardial Function, Myocardial Innervation, Myocardial Perfusion, Myocardial Viability, Nuclear Cardiology, Positron Emission Tomography, Radionuclide Angiography, Single Photon Emission Tomography.