Cardiovascular Nuclear Medicine and MRI : Quantitation and Clinical Applications

Addresses the major advances that have taken place in recent years in the fields of cardiovascular nuclear medicine and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. MRI is used not only for anatomical information, but increasingly for the functional aspects of cardiac performance.

In recent years there have been major advances in the fields of cardiovascular nuclear medicine and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. In nuclear cardiology more adequate tomographic systems have been designed for routine cardiac use, as well as new or improved quatitative analytic software packages both for planar and tomographic studies implemented on modern state-of-the-art workstations. In addition, artificial intelligence techniques are being applied to these images in attempts to interpret the nuclear studies in a more objective and reproductive manner. Various new radiotracers have been developed, such as antimyosin, labelled isonitriles, metabolic compounds, etcetera. Furthermore, alternative stress testing with dipyridamole and dobutamine has received much attention in clinical cardiac practice. Magnetic resonance imaging is a relative newcomer in cardiology and has already shown its merits, not only for anatomical information but increasingly for the functional aspects of cardiac performance.