History Since their inception in the 1950s, cardiac valve prostheses have undergone remarkable improvements, yet their fundamental construction has remained largely unchanged. The prosthetic cardiac valve is inextricably linked to…

From 1999 through 2008, most visits to the emergency departments (EDs) in the United States by adult patients (≥15 years old) were mainly for chest and abdominal pain, according to…

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in cardiac diseases has been advancing rapidly, and this technique has become the gold standard for diagnosing many of the pathologic conditions encountered…

Echocardiography uses high-frequency sound waves to generate images of cardiac structures and to provide information regarding blood flow and valvular function. The introduction of two-dimensional (2-D) echocardiography into routine clinical…

Tremendous advances in understanding of the circulatory system stemmed from the groundbreaking work of Claude Bernard, a French physiologist who performed cardiac catheterization of an equine heart in 1844. However,…

Evaluation of cardiac computed tomography (CT) images requires a thorough understanding of normal cardiac anatomy and common anatomic variants. Technologic advances, including electrocardiographically gated multidetector CT scanners, submillimeter collimation, and…

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging allows high-contrast, spatial, and temporal resolution imaging of the heart and related structures. The absence of ionizing radiation and the greater contrast and temporal resolution…

Today, imagers are presented with more options than ever before for imaging vascular structures throughout the body. This is in part due to the evolution of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA),…

Catheter angiography refers to x-ray imaging of the blood vessels while contrast material is injected through an introducer (needle, catheter, or sheath) positioned within the vessel of interest. First developed…

Many symptoms and signs encountered in the course of clinical care may raise concern for cardiac dysfunction. These manifestations may include chest pain or discomfort, dyspnea, exercise intolerance, edema, syncope,…