Cardiac Imaging

While cardiac ultrasound is the widely used imaging modality for heart assessments, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear imaging are also used and are often complimentary, each offering specific details about the heart other modalities cannot. For this reason the clinical question being asked often determines the imaging test that will be used.

Craig Sable Children's National Hospital AI echo

AI spots signs of rheumatic heart disease in echocardiograms as well as cardiologists

Researchers think this represents a potential breakthrough for low- and middle-income countries where access to high-quality imaging evaluations is still limited. 

January 18, 2024
Jamie Bourque, MD, medical director of the nuclear cardiology and stress laboratory, and medical director of the echocardiography lab, at the University of Virginia, discusses a new multimodality consensus statement for imaging cardiac amyloidosis. This area has rapidly expanded over the past couple years now that there are drugs to treat the condition. Examples of nuclear imaging for cardiac amyloidosis.

New ASNC quality metrics will support standardization of imaging for cardiac amyloidosis

Interest in cardiac amyloidosis has been on the rise in recent years. Jamie Bourque, MD, talked to Cardiovascular Business about an upcoming consensus statement focused on using cardiac imaging to evaluate patients for signs of this serious condition. 

January 18, 2024
money business cash flow dollar. Kingsway Financial Services, a Chicago-based holding company with subsidiaries in several industries, has acquired New Jersey-based Digital Diagnostics Imaging (DDI) for $11 million. The transaction was funded with $5.4 million in cash and $5.6 million in debt financing.

Integer acquires medical device specialists with experience in structural heart, electrophysiology for $140M

Integer's estimated 2023 sales nearly reached $1.6 billion, up 16% compared to 2022. According to the company's statement, this acquisition helps expand its footprint in several key markets. 

January 17, 2024
Self-expandable TAVR cusp-overlap ICE

ICE guidance reduces risk of permanent pacemaker implantation after TAVR with a self-expandable valve

Heart teams can limit the risk of conduction disturbances that lead to permanent pacemaker implantation by utilizing both the cusp-overlap method and intracardiac echocardiography.

January 17, 2024
Rob deKemp, PhD, FASNC, University of Ottawa, Canada, explains new nuclear cardiac imaging dose lowering techniques for PET and SPECT.

How to achieve much lower radiation doses in cardiac nuclear imaging

The radiation doses associated with CT have decreased significantly, leaving nuclear cardiology as the modality with the highest doses in all of cardiac imaging. Rob deKemp, PhD, talked to us about some of the many ways imagers can work to address this issue.

January 17, 2024
Eric Puroll, a project manager with the My Heart Your Heart program, examines donated pacemakers. For several years now, cardiologists, electrophysiologists and other heart specialists with the Frankel Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan (UM) have been working to get reconditioned pacemakers in the hands of patients who may not be able to afford a brand new device through the My Heart Your Heart program. Donated pacemakers are accepted if they have four years of battery life remaining.

Cardiologists give recycled pacemakers to heart patients in need

When patients with pacemakers die, what happens to the device? Typically, it ends up being discarded and forgotten—they were designed to be single-use devices, after all—but that does not have to be the case.

January 16, 2024
Professor Keith Channon, MD, MB ChB, FRCP, interventional cardiologist and the British Heart Foundation Professor Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and a co-founder of Caristo, explained an AHA 2023 study where AI identified coronary inflammation as a major silent risk factor and a strong predictor of heart attack risk.

AI model targets inflammation, helping cardiologists find 'invisible' heart patients

By focusing more on inflammation, cardiologists can ensure they are identifying patients who need help before it's too late.

January 15, 2024
Bruce Wilkoff, MD, a veteran cardiologist with Cleveland Clinic

Cardiologist Bruce Wilkoff remembered as a ‘pioneer’ of electrophysiology, ‘beacon of medical excellence’

Friends, colleagues and professional societies have all shared loving tributes to the veteran electrophysiologist, who died at the age of 69. 

January 12, 2024

Around the web

Eleven medical societies have signed on to a consensus statement aimed at standardizing imaging for suspected cardiovascular infections.

Kate Hanneman, MD, explains why many vendors and hospitals want to lower radiology's impact on the environment. "Taking steps to reduce the carbon footprint in healthcare isn’t just an opportunity," she said. "It’s also a responsibility."

Trimed Popup
Trimed Popup