This review considers the changing nature of surgical risk assessment and the definition of risk; discusses the pathophysiology of perioperative myocardial infarction in relation to tests of coronary flow reserve; surveys the extensive literature on preoperative myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and outlines key trends; presents practical points on image interpretation; addresses the needs of ...

UNLABELLED Compared with conventional coronary angiography, spiral multidetector CT (MDCT) angiography has delivered promising accuracy in the detection and validation of coronary lesions. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using SPECT is an established method for noninvasively assessing the functional significance of coronary stenoses and delivers valuable information for risk stratification. ...

Highly available, noninvasive and cost-effective, echocardiography remains a keystone in the evaluation of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Echocardiographic assessment of cardiac function at rest and during dobutamine stress has direct clinical implications. Conventional echocardiographic parameters however, are partly based on visual interpretation of cardiac motion, thereby subje...

BACKGROUND Heart transplantation is an alternative for individuals with end-stage heart disease. However, episodes of heart rejection (HR) are frequent and increase morbidity and mortality, requiring the use of an accurate non-invasive exam for their diagnosis, since endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is not a complication-free procedure. OBJECTIVE To compare the parameters obtained by use of Dopple...

BACKGROUND Assessment of systemic right ventricular (RV) function is a key point in the follow-up of patients with transposition of the great arteries (TGA). Current echocardiographic assessment of RV function is at best an estimate, and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is considered the gold standard. However, this technique is expensive, has limited availability, and requires significant expe...

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is a major cause of cardiovascular admissions and hypertensive heart failure (HHF) is the most common cause of HF admissions in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria inclusive. Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is being increasingly recognized in HF and found to be an independent predictor of adverse outcomes in HF. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of RV systoli...

Recent advances in SPECT technology including cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) semiconductor detector material may pave the way for absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF) measurements by SPECT. The aim of the present study was to compare K1 uptake rate constants as surrogates of absolute MBF and myocardial flow reserve index (MFRi) in humans as assessed with a CZT SPECT camera versus PET. METHODS A...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Our aims were to investigate the utility of plasma N terminal-pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level and find the most beneficial echocardiographic parameters to detect subclinical cardiotoxicity in childhood- cancer survivors treated with doxorubicin. METHODS The study included 23 patients with a mean age of 17.1 years, who had received doxorubicin therapy with a...

BACKGROUND Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and [(11)C]acetate positron emission tomography (PET) were used to assess the hypothesis that patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) have decreased subendocardial perfusion reserve and impaired oxidative metabolism, consistent with the concept of "energy starvation" in heart failure (HF). METHODS AND RESULTS CMR myocardial perfusio...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the safety of dobutamine stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) obtained by real-time contrast echocardiography (RTCE) and intravenous ultrasound contrast in a large cohort of patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). BACKGROUND Despite the increasing number of studies showing the potential clinical utility of myocardial contra...