Valvular heart disease is a significant clinical problem, with a reported prevalence of 2.5% in the United States. Between 10% and 20% of cardiac surgical procedures in the United States are performed for the treatment of valvular disease. Some of…
Pericardium Anatomy The pericardium can be thought of as two layers of a deflated balloon, which is wrapped around the heart. One side of that balloon becomes the inner layer (visceral layer), which is wrapped around and closely adheres to…
Coronary artery disease is by far the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the western world. The impact of coronary heart diseases and related atherosclerotic conditions like stroke, in terms of reduced quality of life, life-years lost, and direct…
Cardiac computed tomography (CCT) has become a mainstream imaging tool for the assessment of coronary atherosclerosis and changes resulting from pericardial, valvular, and myocardial heart disease. Computed tomography (CT) use had always been limited by relatively long acquisition time and…
Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging provides high-spatial and temporal resolution imagery from which reproducible morphologic and functional information can be obtained for the evaluation and management of patients with cardiovascular disease. Substantial progress in the design and application of new…
Echocardiographic Examination Two-Dimensional Transthoracic Examination During the routine echocardiography examination, a fan-shaped beam of ultrasound is directed through a number of selected planes of the heart to record a set of standardized views of the cardiac structures for subsequent analysis.…
Roentgen’s discovery of x-rays was immediately translated into a clinical imaging tool, visualizing previously invisible internal organs, including the heart and great vessels. Correlation of early descriptions of abnormal cardiac shape and size with clinical examination and (all too frequently)…
22.1 Introduction Recently, several minimally invasive approaches for interventional therapy of structural heart diseases have been developed. For example, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an alternative therapeutic option for high-risk patients that serves as an alternative for surgical aortic…
21.1 Introduction Electrophysiology comprises catheter ablations and cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIED) for malconduction and arrhythmia management, prevention of sudden cardiac death, or cardiac resynchronization, and is a rapidly growing field in cardiology. There is an increased clinical use of…
20.1 Introduction A wide variety of diseases can affect the great thoracic arteries. They include entities resulting from long-standing atherosclerotic degeneration (e.g., aortic aneurysms) that as such can go undetected for a prolonged time, as well as diseases presenting with…