Non-invasive cardiac imaging plays a pivotal role in the contemporary care
of heart failure. It has a tremendous potential for better comprehension of the
mechanism of heart failure, detection of subclinical disease, assessment and
classification of the current state of the established disease and provision of insights
regarding prognosis and response to therapy. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR),
cardiac computed tomography (CCT) and nuclear cardiology provide robust diagnostic
and prognostic information. CMR provides the most comprehensive information but it
is limited by the availability. Nuclear cardiology, particularly positron emission
tomography (PET), provides high diagnostic yield and has exceptional potential in
molecular imaging, but is limited by the ionizing radiation and availability. CCT has an
established role in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and an evolving role in
tissue characterization, but like nuclear cardiology, it is limited by associated radiation
exposure. This chapter discusses the role of CMR, CCT and nuclear cardiology in the
management of heart failure.
Keywords: Cardiac Computed Tomography, Cardiac computed Tomography
Angiography, Cardiomyopathy, Cardiovascular Mgnetic Resonance, Coronary
Artery Disease, Myocardial Delayed Enhancement, Diastolic Dysfunction,
Ejection Fraction, Gated SPECT, Heart Failure, Late Gadolinium Enhancement,
Micro-Vascular Obstruction, Myocardial Function, Myocardial Innervation,
Myocardial Perfusion, Myocardial Viability, Nuclear Cardiology, Positron
Emission Tomography, Radionuclide Angiography, Single Photon Emission
Tomography.
