Echocardiographic assessment of coronary microvascular dysfunction: Basic concepts, technical aspects, and clinical...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Imaging
• Physiology

Background:

• Coronary flow reserve (CFR) indicates the heart's ability to increase blood flow to meet metabolic demands.
• CFR holds significant prognostic value in various clinical contexts.
• Assessing CFR can be performed using invasive or noninvasive methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the benefits and limitations of using echocardiography to assess coronary flow reserve.
• To highlight transthoracic echocardiography Doppler as an emerging noninvasive diagnostic technique.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on echocardiographic assessment of coronary flow reserve.
• Focus on transthoracic echocardiography Doppler capabilities.

Main Results:

• Transthoracic echocardiography Doppler is a noninvasive, feasible, and safe technique.
• Echocardiography can detect both macrovascular and microvascular coronary circulation anomalies.
• The technique avoids radiation exposure.

Conclusions:

• Echocardiography provides a valuable noninvasive approach for evaluating coronary flow reserve.
• Further understanding of its benefits and limitations is crucial for clinical application.