12.3 Cardiac Imaging

Question 1

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it & the good & bad points?

Answer 1

Echocardiogram which is a cardiac ultrasound

Red means blood towards the probe

Blue means blood away from probe

GOOD

• It is portable, immediate, accessible
• Provides excellent information on structure & function of the heart muscles & valves
• Can look at flow of blood & velocity of blood in the heart
• Can show blood with colour

BAD

• Is limited by patient factors (size, lungs etc.)

Question 2

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it & the good & bad points

Answer 2

Cardiac catheterisation

e.g. angiogram gives a 2D image (dye inserted into the coronary artery - 1 artery at a time, checks for any blockages/ischaemia)

Happens in a cath lab

Catheter inserted into the femoral artery/radial artery

GOOD

• Can tell a lot of information about coronary arteries

BAD

• Is invasive using X-ray (radiation) & dye to image the heart

Question 3

What is angioplasty?

Answer 3

Is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis

90% blockade of the LAD coronary artery

1. Start with X-ray guidance
2. Where there is narrowing in the coronary artery blow up balloon (which is insidee the catheter)

Question 4

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it & good & bad aspects of it?

Answer 4

Cardiac CT

Gives anatomical characteristics of coronary arteries & aorta

GOOD

• ​Is non-invasive
• Very good 2D images but can also get 3D images

BAD

• Doesn’t give a lot of information about function & little structure

Question 5

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it & good aspects?

Answer 5

Cardiac MRI

GOOD

• It is portable, immediate, accessible
• Provides excellent information on structure & function of the heart muscles & valves
• Can look at flow of blood & velocity of blood in the heart
• Allows tissue characterisation
• Is very good for scars & masses
• NO radiation
• NOT invasive
• Can show images in 3D

Question 6

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it

Answer 6

Intravascular ultrasound

• Is an ultrasound inside (the coronary artery)
• Black on inside = plaque (should be white)

Question 7

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it

Answer 7

Optical coherence tomography (OCT)

This is an example of a disrupted epithelium with plaque as should be smooth & round

Question 8

What is this technique of cardiac imaging & explain it

Answer 8

Myocardial perfusion

It is done to show how well blood flows through the heart muscle. It also shows how well the heartmuscle is pumping