Imaging heart failure: current and future applications.

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Heart failure (HF) management relies on various cardiac imaging tests.
• Noninvasive imaging modalities are essential for assessing cardiac structure and function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current and future applications of major noninvasive imaging modalities in HF.
• To highlight advancements in cardiac imaging for HF diagnosis and prognosis.

Main Methods:

• Review of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), SPECT, PET, CMR, and CT for HF.
• Discussion of recent developments including myocardial strain, 3D TTE, PET, CMR, and CT techniques.

Main Results:

• TTE is primary for HF evaluation; advancements offer superior diagnostic/prognostic data.
• PET shows higher accuracy than SPECT for ischemia/viability; CMR aids etiology and outcome prediction.
• CT detects CAD and analyzes myocardial function, perfusion, and scar; new methods detect subclinical disease.

Conclusions:

• Available imaging methods reliably assess cardiac performance in HF.
• Advancements enable subclinical disease detection, but large-scale clinical validation is needed.
• Future imaging may enable early detection, risk stratification, and targeted HF treatments.