Cardiovascular Imaging: Current Developments in Research and Clinical Practice

Non-invasive vascular imaging § § Non-invasive assessment of vascular and entothelial § § function Radionuclide Imaging § § Molecular imaging § § Intravascular ultrasound § § Optical coherence tomography § § Article types include original clinical and basic research This supplement aims to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of current developments in this important area. Topics addressed span non-invasive and invasive cardiovascular imaging and include but are not limited to advances in applied (translational) research in: Echocardiography § § Cardiac computer tomography § § Cardiac MRI and spectroscopy § § Magnetic resonance angiography § § Cardiac positron emission tomography § § T he field of cardiovascular imaging has experienced exponential growth over the past 25 years in terms of new modalities, improvements in the accuracy of these modalities, volume of imaging procedures, technological advancements, and new applications for cardiovascular imaging. As a result, related quality improvement and clinical awareness in this expanding field is essential for researchers and practicing clinicians alike. Technological developments in cardiovascular imaging have affected every aspect of practice leading to noticeable improvements in diagnosis and impact on patient management. Our supplement highlights the major advances in many of the current areas of cardiovascular imaging and the expanding clinical applications of these imaging modalities including echocardiography, cardiac CT imaging, perfusion imaging and others. Our supplement addresses many of the facets of cardio-vascular imaging and examines new applications in clinical practice. We examine multi-detector coronary CT (MDCT) imaging for the identification of coronary artery stenoses in a " Real-World " population and highlight the fact that coronary CTA has become an essential and central tool in the assessment for coronary artery disease (CAD). We further document that MDCT is an accurate imaging tool that allows a non-invasive assessment of significant CAD with a high