Incremental Value Of Advanced Cardiac Imaging Modalities For Diagnosis And Patient Management

Advances in Cardiac Imaging presents the latest information on heart disease and heart failure, major causes of death among western populations. In addition, the text explores the financial burden to public healthcare trusts and the vast amount of research and funding being channeled into programs not only to prevent such diseases, but also to diagnose them in early stages. This book provides readers with a thorough overview of many advances in cardiac imaging. Chapters include technological developments in cardiac imaging and imaging applications in a clinical setting with regard to detecting various types of heart disease. Presents a thorough overview of cardiac imaging technology Addresses specific applications for a number of cardiac diseases and how they can improve diagnoses and treatment protocols Includes technological developments in cardiac imaging and imaging applications in a clinical setting

This open access book presents a comprehensive overview of dilated cardiomyopathy, providing readers with practical guidelines for its clinical management. The first part of the book analyzes in detail the disease’s pathophysiology, its diagnostic work up as well as the prognostic stratification, and illustrates the role of genetics and gene-environment interaction. The second part presents current and future treatment options, highlighting the importance of long-term and individualized treatments and follow-up. Furthermore, it discusses open issues, such as the apparent healing phenomenon, the early prognosis of arrhythmic events or the use of genetic testing in clinical practice. Offering a multidisciplinary approach for optimizing the clinical management of DCM, this book is an invaluable aid not only for the clinical cardiologists, but for all physicians involved in the care of this challenging disease.

This clinically oriented book provides an up-to-date review on the various hybrid imaging modalities that may be employed for the purpose of cardiac imaging. After discussion of generic aspects of hybrid imaging, SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MRI are each considered in depth. In addition, information is provided on upcoming technologies, such as dedicated so-called fast cardiac cameras (CZT detector technology) and novel probes and radiotracers. A wide variety of topics are addressed, including important technological aspects, possible applications, imaging protocols, peculiarities of the available modalities, radiation exposure, and dose reduction. Last but not least, an estimation of the cost efficiency of dedicated and hybrid imaging devices in cardiology is provided and possible scenarios with respect to health care economics are envisioned. Hybrid Cardiac Imaging will be of particular value for nuclear medicine specialists, cardiologists, and radiologists and will also be of interest to medical physicists, medical technicians, and cardiothoracic surgeons.

Imaging technologies are the cornerstone in the diagnosis and staging of benign and malignant lesions in the liver and pancreas. Although the methods are partly competing, they often need to be used in a complementary way in order to obtain optimal results for decision making. The introduction of new and refined non-invasive imaging technologies has lately led to a major progress in the diagnostic approach to diseases of the digestive system. For example, this is the case with echo-enhanced sonography: This technique is based on the property of microbubbles to resonate and emit harmonic waves in an ultrasound field. The initial method, defined as 'second harmonic imaging', was limited by the incapacity to separate the signals obtained from the bubbles and the tissue texture. This procedure has been replaced by the pulse inversion imaging technique which now gives a much better picture quality, allowing to depict the vascularization pattern of distinct lesions in the liver and pancreas. Similarly, the performance of other key imaging modalities such as CT-scan, magnetic resonance imaging, Doppler sonography and endosonography has been improved. Clinicians seeking current information on modern imaging modalities for diagnosis, differentiation and staging of gastrointestinal diseases will find this publication very useful.

Cardiovascular Toxicity and Therapeutic Modalities Targeting Cardio-Oncology: From Basic Research to Advanced Study analyzes the emerging the field of cardio-oncology, reviewing recent advancements in the field, discussing how to monitor and treat cancer survivors for cardiotoxicity, and identifying potential cardiac side effects in novel cancer therapies. By adopting a translational approach, the book first comprehensively covers the basic science, mechanisms and concepts, which is followed by advanced state-of-art of cardio-oncology. Other sections cover tyrosine kinase inhibitors, Anthracyclines, and biomarkers in cardiotoxicity induced by chemotherapeutic drugs, noninvasive cardiovascular imaging techniques, radiotherapy induced cardiovascular, and more. Anti-cancer treatment is associated with serious cardiovascular adverse events, including arterial and pulmonary hypertension, supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias, systolic and diastolic cardiac dysfunction and coronary artery disease. Progress in cancer therapy over the past decades improved long-term survival but increased cancer therapy-related cardiotoxicity. Both traditional chemotherapeutic agents and newer therapies have demonstrated profound cardiovascular toxicities. It is important to understand the mechanisms of these toxicities to establish strategies for the prevention and management of complications—arrhythmias, heart failure, and even death. Adopts a translational approach and comprehensively covers the basic science, mechanisms and concepts of cardio-oncology Outlines the current knowledge of biomarkers in cancer therapy-related cardiotoxicity Provides an understanding of the mechanisms of cardiovascular toxicity of various therapies that may lead to the identification of novel targets to reduce vascular complications

There has been significant progress in the field of interventional cardiology, from the development of newer devices to newer applications of technology, resulting in improved cardiovascular outcomes. The goal of this Special Issue is to update practicing clinicians and provide a comprehensive collection of original articles, reviews, and editorials. To this end, we invited state-of-the-art reviews, including reviews of new technology and therapeutics, as well as original research in this area to be considered for inclusion in this issue. Examples include the history and evolution of interventional techniques, reviews of specific devices and technologies for coronary artery disease (i.e., stent technology, atherectomy devices, coronary physiology, intracoronary imaging, and robotics), structural heart diseases (i.e., ASD: atrial septal defect; LAAC: left atrial appendage closure; MC: MitraClip; PFO: patent foramen ovale; TAVI: transcatheter aortic valve implantation), advances in the management of challenging coronary anatomy, new biomarkers of cardiovascular disease (noncoding RNAs, etc.), and interventional techniques in the management of heart failure, peripheral arterial diseases, and pulmonary embolism. This Special Issue presents the most recent advances in the field of coronary and structural heart diseases as well as their implications for future patient care.

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP), consisting of an abnormal protrusion of mitral leaflets into the left atrium, is the main cause of severe mitral regurgitation and it often requires surgical or interventional correction. It mainly represents a typical adult disease with an average prevalence in industrialized countries ranging from 2 to 8%, but even the pediatric population may be affected showing specific features concerning both anatomy and treatment. Although its existence and clinical characteristics are known for several decades, every aspect of this pathological condition is in continuous evolution, being the subject of biologists’, cardiologists’ and surgeons’ active research. The aim of the present Research Topic is to address the MVP entity in its completeness, trying to describe all actual knowledge concerning molecular mechanisms, different clinical presentations (fibroelastic degeneration in elderly people or Barlow disease in young patients), diagnostic findings and tools (mainly represented by echocardiography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), their specific application to newly developed transcatheter and minimally invasive treatments, indications, surgical management and interventional strategies. For all these big chapters, special attention will be addressed to show temporal knowledge evolution and new elements acquisition, since the central message is that MVP is in flux and far from full comprehension.