Cardiac resynchronisation therapy
Switzerland - A clinical trial of cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) in patients with advanced heart failure and a narrow QRS complex
Cardiology
Cardiologists meet to sum up progress
During a meeting of cardiologists in Prague earlier this year to exchange experiences with new methods and treatments to control atrial fibrillation, Dr Josef Kautzner, Head of Cardiology Department at IKEM (Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine) pointed out that numbers of patients with AF will more than double during the next 20 years.
Atrial Fibrillation monitoring
The first implant of the Reveal XT, an insertable cardiac monitor made by US firm Medtronic, which recently received CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark, was carried out in June by Professor Karl-Heinz Kuck MD, at the Asklepios Klinik St. Georg in Hamburg, Germany.
Trial to raise awareness of gender and CVD
More women than men die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) every year, yet females receive only 33% of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries; 28% of implantable defibrillators, and 36% of open heart surgeries.
Cardiac MSCT Study Assessment with Sure Plaque-Software
Ongoing refinement of modern helical multi-slice CT (MSCT) scanners offers the opportunity for very high temporal and spatial resolution thin-slice data set acquisition. The reconstruction techniques offered (multisegment reconstruction) result in improved temporal resolution down to 40-200 ms and thus also reducing motion artifacts. The SURECardio software package makes possible optimum studies…
Monitoring of Coronary Stenting
Coronary stenting is the most common way of treating symptomatic ischaemic cardiopathy and stenosis of venous bypasses. Restenosis actually occurs in 30% of patients treated with non-medicated stents while "drug eluting" stents have reduced the incidence of restenosis by approximately a quarter and have proved particularly effective in diabetic patients and in the treatment of lesions…
Tissue Doppler Imaging
Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) is an emergingnon-invasive ultrasound technique that makes it possible to measure velocities at any point of the ventricular wall during the cardiac cycle. Over the last ten years, TDI has been proposed as a feasible and useful imaging tool that provides information on regional wall motion dynamics.
Automatic Quantification of Left-ventricular Function
The evaluation of the size and function of the left ventricle in patients with suspected heart disease is a central diagnostic problem. In contrast to other methods of evaluating left-ventricular function (e.g., angiocardiography, right-sided heart catheterization, radionuclide ventriculography or MRI), transthoracic echocardiography is a widespread and readily available procedure that is not…
Cardiac CT
Along with a high local resolution, the cardiac CT imaging also requires a high time resolution where the image data acquisition must be synchronised with the cardiac cycle by means of parallel ECG recording, and the measuring volume must be acquired in a single breathhold cycle. The multi-slice CT copes well with these requirements as it allows for acquiring continuous volume data sets of the…
The Wonderful World of Images Report on the Workshop
Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) and contrast echocardiography open up new possibilities for exactly representing and assessing functional cardiac disturbances. This was the topic discussed by Dr. Harald Becher of John Radcliff Hospital, Oxford, and Dr. Jörg Strotmann of the University Clinic Würzburg in the framework of the Toshiba workshop “New approaches in echocardiography” at the European…
Everything Echocardiography Offers - at 4559 Meters Above Sea Level
It has long been known that remaining at high altitudes leads to an increase in pulmonary arterial pressure caused by hypoxia. Its effects on cardiac function have also been considered well documented. The increase in pressure in the pulmonary circulation causes an enlargement of the right ventricle and thereby causes a displacement of the left ventricle that is accompanied by a relaxation…
Head and Neck Imaging
Multislice computed tomography (MS CT), which was introduced to clinical imaging as fourslice detectors in 1998 has fully proven its superior performance over conventional scanner technology. For example, it provides optimized resolution of detail and increased scan speed. Simultaneously, this technology has opened new indications for computed tomography, for example, in heart imaging. However,…
A Small Primer on the Clinical Use of MSCT for Heart Exams
Because of the rapid technical and scientific development over the past few years, multislice computer tomography of the heart has become increasingly established in the clinical routine. This requires, among other things, knowledge of the anatomy of the coronary arteries, the meaningful evaluation of the calcium score and the appropriate reproduction of the function of the left ventricle.
Everything Echocardiography Offers - at 4 559 Meters Above Sea Level
It has long been known that hypoxia at high altitudes leads to an increase of pulmonaryarterial pressure. For sensitive persons, one crucial factor for the development of HAPE is the overwhelming rise in pressure in the pulmonary circulation. Using right heart catheterization average pulmonary-arterial pressures of 60 mmHg were encountered in earlier studies of HAPE patients. A pressure increase…
Innovative Interventional Digital Cardiology Solution with the Flat Panel Detector
Located in the southeastern part of Brussels, the “Cliniques de l'Europe” is a group of three clinics: Saint Elisabeth, Deux Alices and St. Michel. Over a period of several years, our organization has been restructured and adapted to the needs of this facility which serves a local population of approximately 250,000. Cliniques de l'Europe has at its disposal a complete range of dedicated…
Cardiac Multislice Computed Tomography (MSCT) Angiography
Spiral computed tomography first allowed the seamless acquisition of entire volumina without first separating them into individual slices. With the newest generation of MSCT devices having the 16-slice technology, short gantry rotation time of < 0.5 seconds, and a high performance processor, it is now possible to acquire large amounts of data in a short period of time with high spatial and…
Value of Non-Invasine CT Coronary Angiography in Cardiology
Among invasive cardiac catheterization diagnostic methods selective coronary angiography is the gold standard for directly visualizing the coronary system. It allows a definitive and precise diagnosis of coronary heart disease and thus serves as the rational basis for further revascularization procedures.
Clinical Cases: LAD Stenosis and Anomaly
63-year-old male with stable angina. The coronary angiogram showed vessel disease with significant stenosis in the proximal LAD and in the middle of the LCX. PCI with stent performed the day before the CT Angio. The patient was referred to the Aquilion 64 for follow-up.
Stroke Imaging: Foundations and Strategy
Diagnostic imaging is of particular value in investigating ischaemic cerebrovascular accidents since, due to the rapid progression of cell destruction in the region of the cerebral infarction, the radiologist is faced with urgent questions regarding a possible procedure. These questions may be answered particularly well using computed tomography (CT). The following article provides an overview…
Dyssynchrony Imaging
Dyssynchrony Imaging (DI), Toshiba's novel Doppler technology, is used as a quantitative clinical tool for rapid assessment of dyssynchrony in patients with suspected myomechanical dysfunction. From the parasternal short axis view, DI is applied by Toshiba's exclusive “angle-correction” technology and in apical views by standard Doppler imaging. Thus, DI permits evaluation of virtually all…
PhaseXact Promises Motion-free Cardiac Images
The goal in cardiac computed tomography is to obtain motion-free images of the beating heart. A newly launched software from Toshiba called PhaseXact introduces advanced features to reach this goal fully automatically.
CORE64 - Coronary Evaluation on 64
The goal of CORE64 is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography angiography (CTA) compared to coronary angiography (CAG) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).
Cardiac MSCT with SURE Plaque - Initial experience and future perspectives
Ongoing refinement of modern spiral multi-slice CT scanners offers the opportunity for very high temporal and spatial resolution thin-slice data set acquisition. The econstruction techniques offered (multisegment reconstruction) result in improved temporal resolution while simultaneously reducing the effective exposure time to 40-200 ms and thus also reducing motion artefacts. The SURECardio…
Mechanical heart pumps could beat transplants
Almost one in three people over 55 will develop congestive heart failure, research has revealed. The Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based study of cardiovascular and other diseases in the elderly, monitored 7,983 inhabitants of Ommoord, a Rotterdam suburb (source: Eur Heart J 2004: 25, 1614-19).
Early warning systems for cardiac care
Various record systems that transfer patient data directly from an emergency site to physicians' monitors for diagnosis of cardiac incidents were demonstrated at MEDICA 2006.
