David A. Dowe (EDT), Massimo Fioranelli (EDT), Paolo Pavone (EDT) Imaging Coronary Arteries

Annotation

In non fatal cases, cardiovascular diseases, are associated with a decreased quality of life as well as asubstantial economic burden to society. Most sudden cardiac events are relatedto the complications of a non-stenosing marginal plaque. For this reason, theability to properly identify the atherosclerotic plaque with rapid, non-invasivetechniques is of utmost clinical interest in therapeutic planning. CT produceshigh-quality images of the coronary arteries, in addition to defining theirlocation and the extent of the atherosclerotic involvement. This new edition is enriched with dedicated chapters on intravascular ultrasound(IVUS), catheter angiography, and nuclear imaging, with limited discussions oftheoretical techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) andmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Brief chapters will also be included thatdiscuss percutaneous coronary artery procedures and coronary artery bypasssurgery. Indications of when to use CCTA will be discussed, with comparison ofthese imaging techniques to each other. This volume provides general practitioners and cardiologists with a basicunderstanding of the imaging techniques. For radiologists with no directexperience in cardiac imaging, the book serves as an important source ofinformation on coronary pathophysiology and anatomy.