Articles
Articles are a collaborative effort to provide a single canonical page on all topics relevant to the practice of radiology. As such, articles are written and edited by countless contributing members over a period of time. A global group of dedicated editors oversee accuracy, consulting with expert advisers, and constantly reviewing additions.
658 results found
Article
60/60 sign (echocardiography)
The 60/60 sign in echocardiography refers to the coexistence of a truncated right ventricular outflow tract acceleration time (AT <60 ms) with a pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP) of less than 60 mmHg (but more than 30 mmHg). In the presence of right ventricular failure, it is consisten...
Article
Absent pulmonary valve syndrome
Absent pulmonary valve syndrome (APVS) also known as congenital absence of pulmonary valve or pulmonary valve agenesis is a rare cardiac outflow tract anomaly.
Pathology
It is characterized by completely absent or rudimentary pulmonary valve. It can be associated with aneurysmal dilatation of...
Article
ACC/AHA classification of coronary lesions
ACC/AHA classification of coronary lesions is a system use to classify coronary arterial calcific plaque burden. It is classified as
type A
discrete (<10 mm)
concentric
nonangulated segment <45º
smooth contour
little or no calcification
less than totally occlusive
not ostial in location...
Article
Accessory left atrial appendage
An accessory left atrial appendage is a frequent fortuitous finding in cardiac imaging, encountered in ~10% of patients. They are more often seen as a small diverticular structure projecting from the right upper side of the left atrial wall.
Differential diagnosis
it must not be confused with ...
Article
Ace-of-spades sign (heart)
Ace-of-spades sign refers to the pathognomonic configuration of the left ventricle as seen in apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy 1-3.
It consists of marked ventricular wall thickening at the apex resulting in cavity narrowing at the apex with a relatively normal appearance of the mid-ventricula...
Article
Acute abdominal pain
Acute abdominal pain is a common acute presentation in clinical practice. It encompasses a very broad range of possible etiologies and diagnoses, and imaging is routinely employed as the primary investigative tool in its modern management.
Terminology
A subgroup of patients with acute abdomina...
Article
Acute coronary syndrome
Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a group of cardiac diagnoses along a spectrum of severity due to the interruption of coronary blood flow to the myocardium, which in decreasing severity are:
ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)
non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI)
unstable an...
Article
Acute right heart syndrome
Acute right heart syndrome (ARHS) is defined as a sudden deterioration in right ventricular (RV) function and failure of the RV to deliver adequate blood flow to the pulmonary circulation. This can result in systemic hypoperfusion.
Pathology
ARHS can occur in several settings 1
in the setting...
Article
Acyanotic congenital heart disease
Acyanotic congenital heart disease comprises numerous etiologies, which can be divided into those with increased pulmonary vascularity (pulmonary plethora) and those with normal vascularity:
increased pulmonary vascularity
ventricular septal defect (VSD)
atrial septal defect (ASD)
atrioventr...
Article
Adenosine
Adenosine is a vasodilating agent, which acts on the vascular smooth muscle surface and leads to vasodilation and a considerable increased vascular flow.
Note: This article aims to give a rough description of adenosine.
For detailed and exact information please refer to the information and di...
Article
Agatston score
Agatston score is a semi-automated tool to calculate a score based on the extent of coronary artery calcification detected by an unenhanced low-dose CT scan, which is routinely performed in patients undergoing cardiac CT. Due to an extensive body of research, it allows for early risk stratificat...
Article
Ammonia (N-13)
13NH3 is a PET tracer used for studies of myocardial perfusion imaging. It is produced in a cyclotron by proton irradiation of the enriched water of the oxygen-16. Ammonia (N-13) is administered intravenously, at a dose of 10-20 mCi (370-740 Mbq) in adults; its physical half-life is 10 minutes.
...
Article
Anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis (also known as anaphylactic shock or reaction) is an acute severe systemic type I hypersensitivity reaction, commonly presenting with urticaria/angioedema, hypotension and bronchial hyperreactivity. It may be fatal.
Terminology
Anaphylactoid reactions result from non-immune system ...
Article
Anatomy curriculum
The anatomy curriculum is one of our curriculum articles and aims to be a collection of articles that represent the core anatomy knowledge for radiologists and imaging specialists.
General anatomy
Neuroanatomy
Head and neck anatomy
Thoracic anatomy
Abdominal and pelvic anatomy
Spinal anat...
Article
Angina
Angina or angina pectoris is cardiac chest pain that occurs as the result of myocardial ischemia.
Clinical presentation
Angina is classically described as substernal chest discomfort that is of a typical quality and duration (heavy, tight, ‘bandlike’ pain that lasts for minutes at a time). Ang...
Article
Angiotensin converting enzyme
Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is a central component of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) which assists in blood pressure control by regulating the volume of fluids in the body.
Normal individuals may have a small volume of the angiotensin converting enzyme circulating in their blood.
M...
Article
Ankylosing spondylitis (cardiovascular manifestations)
Cardiovascular manifestations of ankylosing spondylitis may affect around 2-10% of all patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Cardiac complications include:
left ventricular dysfunction: considered on of the commonest findings 3
aortic root dilatation: also a relatively frequent finding 3
righ...
Article
Anomalous aortic origin of coronary artery
Anomalous aortic origin of coronary artery (AAOCA) refers to a congenital coronary artery anomaly in which a coronary arteries arises from a different coronary sinus.
Terminology
Anomalous origin of the coronary artery arising from the opposite sinus (ACOAS) is a narrower definition and refers...
Article
Anomalous course of coronary arteries
Anomalous course of a coronary artery is a type of congenital coronary artery anomaly. It may represent a benign and incidental finding, but rarely it is a malignant course predisposing patients to life-threatening myocardial ischemia or arrhythmias, depending on where the artery runs.
Clinica...
Article
Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery
Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA), also known as Bland-White-Garland syndrome (BWG), is a rare congenital coronary artery anomaly and is considered one of the most severe of such anomalies.
There are two forms, based on onset of disease, each of which has differe...
Article
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric disorder characterized by distorted self-perception of body weight leading to starvation, obsession with remaining underweight, and an excessive fear of gaining weight. One in five patients with anorexia dies due to complications of the disease.
Epidemiology
T...
Article
Anterior cardiac veins
The anterior cardiac veins are a group of parallel coronary veins that course over the anterior surface of the right ventricle, draining it and entering directly into the right atrium. They may occasionally drain into the small cardiac vein.
Article
Aortic annulus
The aortic annulus is a fibrous ring at the aortic orifice to the front and right of the atrioventricular aortic valve and is considered the transition point between the left ventricle and aortic root. The annulus is part of the fibrous skeleton of the heart. It is at the level of the sinus of V...
Article
Aortic arch view (fetal echocardiogram)
An aortic arch view is one of the additional views performed on fetal obstetric ultrasound - fetal echocardiography. It is an oblique sagittal view which is obtained similar to a left anterior oblique angiogram or the sagittal arch view obtained in CT arteriography. The isthmus, after the origin...
Article
Aortic dissection
Aortic dissection is the most common form of the acute aortic syndromes and a type of arterial dissection. It occurs when blood enters the medial layer of the aortic wall through a tear or penetrating ulcer in the intima and tracks along the media, forming a second blood-filled channel within th...
Article
Aortic isthmus
The aortic isthmus is the part of the aorta just distal to the origin of the left subclavian artery at the site of the ductus arteriosus.
This portion of the aorta is partly constricted in the fetus because of the lack of flow within the aortic sac and ascending aorta. It marks the partial sepa...
Article
Aortic pseudoaneurysm versus ductus diverticulum
Differentiation of aortic pseudoaneurysm from ductus diverticulum is critical, particularly in the trauma setting. A traumatic aortic pseudoaneurysm is a surgical emergency whereas a ductus diverticulum is a normal anatomic variant.
The following are differentiating features:
Aortic pseudoaneu...
Article
Aortic root
The aortic root is the first part of the aorta and connects the heart to the systemic circulation.
Gross anatomy
The aortic root lies between the junction of the aortic valve and ascending aorta. It has several subparts 1:
three aortic valve leaflets and leaflet attachments
three aortic sin...
Article
Aortic root abscess
An aortic root abscess is a serious complication of infective endocarditis.
Radiographic features
General
Abscesses tend to be saccular in shape, range from 1 to 3 cm in diameter. Depending on sinus of origin, extended beneath the main and right pulmonary arteries or into the interventricular...
Article
Aortic valve
The aortic valve (AV) is one of the four cardiac valves. It is the semilunar valve that allows blood to exit the left ventricle (LV). It opens during systole and closes during diastole. The valve has left, right, and posterior cusps, the bases of which attach around the valve orifice to a fibrou...
Article
Aortic valve calcification
Aortic valve calcification can be an important incidental observation thoracic radiography or CT imaging. It is considered a marker for clinically significant aortic stenosis.
Prevalance
According to some reports aortic valve calcification may be prevalent as an incidental finding up to 18% of...
Article
Aortic valve regurgitation
Aortic valve regurgitation, also known as aortic valve insufficiency or aortic valve incompetence, is a valvulopathy that describes leaking of the aortic valve during diastole that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction from the aorta and into the left ventricle.
Epidemiology
Aortic reg...
Article
Aortic valve stenosis
Aortic valve stenosis is the most common valvulopathy and describes narrowing of the opening of the aortic valve between the aorta and the left ventricle.
Epidemiology
Aortic stenosis is the most common valvulopathy, present in up to one-quarter of all patients with chronic valvular heart dise...
Article
Aortomitral continuity
The aortomitral continuity (also known as the aortomitral curtain, aorticomitral junction, intervalvular fibrous body) is a fibrous sheet located between the noncoronary and left coronary leaflets of the aortic valve and anterior leaflet of the mitral valve. It is attached by the left and right ...
Article
Aortopulmonary septal defect
Aortopulmonary septal defect (APSD), also known as aortopulmonary window (APW), is a congenital anomaly where there is an abnormal communication between the proximal aorta and the pulmonary trunk in the presence of separate aortic and pulmonary valves.
Terminology
APSD should not be confused w...
Article
Aorto-ventricular tunnel
Aorto-ventricular tunnel (AVT) is an extremely rare form of congenital heart disease, representing an anomalous extracardiac communication between the ascending aorta and the left or right ventricles.
Terminology
In most cases the anomalous communication is between the aorta and the left ventr...
Article
Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (AHCM or ApHCM), also known as Yamaguchi syndrome, is a rare form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which usually involves the apex of the left ventricle, rarely involves the right ventricular apex, or involves both apices.
Epidemiology
Historically, this condit...
Article
Approach to shock (echocardiography)
The presence of shock implies inadequate tissue perfusion, the end-point of which is multisystem organ failure and death. Echocardiography at the point-of-care is fast, non-invasive, and often pivotal in the diagnosis, resuscitation, and management of the patient with an undifferentiated shock s...
Article
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), also referred to as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) or simply arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, is a cardiomyopathy that is one of the more common causes of sudden cardiac death in young patients.
Epidemiology
The estimate...
Article
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy diagnostic criteria
For the diagnosis of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) to be made, patients must have either two major criteria, one major and two minor criteria, or four minor criteria.
Major criteria
global or regional dysfunction and structural alterations:
severe dilatation of the ri...
Article
Arterial switch procedure
The arterial switch procedure, also known as the Jatene switch procedure, is an intervention designed to correct D-transposition of the great arteries (D-TGA) at the level of the aorta and main pulmonary artery. It is generally preferred over atrial switch procedures for simple D-TGA due to impr...
Article
ARVC protocol (MRI)
The cardiac MRI ARVC protocol encompasses a set of different MRI sequences for the cardiac assessment in case of suspected arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
Note: This article aims to frame a general concept of a cardiac MRI protocol in the above setting.
Protocol specifics wil...
Article
Ascending aortic aneurysm
Ascending aortic aneurysms are the most common subtype of thoracic aortic aneurysms and may be true or false injuries.
Epidemiology
Ascending aortic aneurysms represent 60% of thoracic aortic aneurysms.
Clinical presentation
Typically ascending aortic aneurysms are an incidental finding an...
Article
Asystole
The diagnosis of asystole refers to a cardiac arrest rhythm with no electrical activity of the heart. It is the cardiac arrest rhythm with the poorest prognosis and is often irreversible 1. Asystole is one of the non-shockable rhythms, the other being pulseless electrical activity (PEA).
Clinic...
Article
Athlete heart syndrome
Athlete heart syndrome refers to adaptations in both cardiac structure and function seen in people engaged in high-performance and endurance physical exercise.
Epidemiology
The prevalence of the condition has increased due to the increased popularity of recreational exercise, approx 3.6/100,00...
Article
Atrial escape
Atrial escape refers to a chest x-ray sign of massive left atrial enlargement and is an exaggerated version of the double density sign.
Normally, the right border of the left atrium is not visible. As it enlarges it forms a distinct border projecting through the right heart shadow, medial to ...
Article
Atrial fibrillation
A common consequence of atrial enlargement and/or inflammation, atrial fibrillation is a dysrhythmia originating from the atria, typically recognized on the electrocardiogram. It most commonly presents as a tachyarrhythmia, with ventricular rates between 120-130 beats per minute. Defining electr...
Article
Atrial-esophageal fistula
Atrio-esophageal fistulas are rare pathological connections between the left atrium and the esophagus.
Clinical presentation
The presentation is non-specific. Patients may complain of fever, malaise, and/or dysphagia, or present with neurological symptoms 3.
Pathology
The chief cause of at...
Article
Atrial septal defect
Atrial septal defect (ASD) is the second most common congenital heart defect after ventricular septal defects (VSDs) and the most common to become symptomatic in adulthood.
They are characterized by an abnormal opening in the atrial septum allowing communication between the right and left atria...
Article
Atrial septal occlusion device
Atrial septal occlusion devices are implantable cardiac devices used in patients with certain types of atrial septal defects.
They are used in cases of atrial septal defects with right atrial or ventricle enlargement, to prevent paradoxical embolism, left-to-right shunting and platypnea-orthode...
Article
Atrial septum
The atrial or interatrial septum (IAS) is a fibromuscular anatomical structure dividing the left and right atrium and is of substantial importance for inter and interatrial conduction.
Gross anatomy
The true atrial septum is defined by the septal area which could be pierced or crossed without ...
Article
Atriclip device
A left atrial appendage epicardial clip or AtriClip® device is a type of left atrial appendage closure device used for treatment of conditions such as atrial fibrillation. It is applied epicardially, with no foreign body contact to bloodstream, and applied to the base of the appendage, and the p...
Article
Atrioventricular nodal artery
The atrioventricular (AV) nodal artery is a small artery supplying the atrioventricular septal area and the atrioventricular node.
Gross anatomy
The atrioventricular nodal artery usually courses through the inferior pyramidal space of the heart.
Origin
The origin of the atrioventricular noda...
Article
Atrioventricular septal defect
Atrioventricular septal defects (AVSDs), also known as atrioventricular canal defects or endocardial cushion defects, comprise a relatively wide range of defects involving the atrial septum, ventricular septum, and one or both of the tricuspid or mitral valve. They can represent 2-7% of congenit...
Article
Atrioventricular septum
The atrioventricular (AV) septum or septal atrioventricular junction forms a central part of the heart, where the interatrial and interventricular septum crosses the atrioventricular annular plane and join with the septal tricuspid and anterior mitral leaflet attachments.
On a four-chamber view...
Article
Barlow disease (disambiguation)
Barlow disease could refer to:
infantile scurvy - named after Sir Thomas Barlow (1845-1945) who demonstrated infantile scurvy to be the same disease as adult scurvy
Barlow disease - mitral valve: form of mitral valve prolapse - named after John Brereton Barlow (1924-2008) 2
Article
Barth syndrome
Barth syndrome (BTHS), also known as 3-methylglutaconic aciduria type II, is an extremely rare X-linked multisystem disorder that is usually diagnosed in infancy.
Epidemiology
Barth syndrome has an estimated prevalence of 1 in 300,000-400,000 live births.
Clinical presentation
It is characte...
Article
Beck triad
Beck triad is a collection of three clinical signs associated with pericardial tamponade which is due to an excessive accumulation of fluid within the pericardial sac.
The three signs are:
low blood pressure (weak pulse or narrow pulse pressure)
muffled heart sounds
raised jugular venous p...
Article
Behçet disease
Behçet disease is a multisystemic and chronic inflammatory vasculitis of unknown etiology.
Epidemiology
The mean age at which Behçet disease occurs is 20-30 years. The disease is most prevalent in the Mediterranean region, Middle East and East Asia. The highest incidence has been reported in T...
Article
Bentall procedure
Bentall procedure is performed for the repair of ascending aortic root lesions. Typically the native aortic root and aortic valve are replaced with a composite graft that comprises both ascending aortic and aortic valve grafts, to which the coronary arteries are anastomosed.
Complications post ...
Article
Bicuspid aortic valve
Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) refers to a spectrum of deformed aortic valves with two functional leaflets or cusps which are often unequal in size.
They are most often congenital while an acquired bicuspid valve occurs when there is fibrous fusion between the right and left cusps of a pre-existin...
Article
Biventricular cardiac pacemaker
Biventricular cardiac pacemakers, also known as cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT), refers to surgically implanted cardiac conduction devices with one lead in each ventricle (and generally one into the right atrium).
Components
lead in the right atrium
lead in the right ventricle
le...
Article
Blalock-Taussig shunt
Blalock-Taussig shunt, also known as Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt, is a palliative procedure designed to increase pulmonary arterial blood flow in patients with right ventricular outflow tract obstruction (e.g. tetralogy of Fallot) or during initial staged repair of hypoplastic left heart syndro...
Article
Blocked premature atrial contractions
Blocked premature atrial contractions (BPACs) are considered a type cardiac bradyarrhythmia and if occurring in utero is classified under a fetal bradyarrhythmia.
Pathology
It is seen when a premature atrial contraction occurs very early on and consequently, it is not conducted into the ventri...
Article
Blood pressure
The blood pressure (BP) is defined as the force exerted by the circulating blood on the walls of the blood vessels. Fundamentally the blood pressure depends upon the interaction of:
blood volume
cardiac contractility
compliance of the arterial walls
Blood pressure is traditionally measured i...
Article
Blunt cardiac injury
Most commonly a result of sudden deceleration or direct precordial impact, blunt cardiac injury (BCI) encompasses a spectrum of structural and functional cardiac derangements which may occur after trauma to the heart 7.
Terminology
While sometimes referred to with general terms such as "cardia...
Article
Body imaging
Body imaging is the term assigned to cross-sectional imaging of the body, which radiologically refers to the chest, abdomen and pelvis. It is often used by radiologists who report this region (sometimes known as body imagers/radiologists) to differentiate their primary area of interest from othe...
Article
Boot shaped heart
A 'boot-shaped' heart ("cœur en sabot" in French) is the description given to the appearance of the heart on plain film in some cases of Tetralogy of Fallot. It describes the appearances of an upturned cardiac apex due to right ventricular hypertrophy and a concave pulmonary arterial segment.
Article
Box-shaped heart
A box-shaped heart is a radiographic description given to the cardiac silhouette in some cases of Ebstein anomaly. The classic appearance of this finding is caused by the combination of the following features:
huge right atrium that may fill the entire right hemithorax
shelved appearance of th...
Article
Brugada syndrome
A cardiac "channelopathy" resulting from mutations in genes coding for cardiac sodium (Na+) channels, the Brugada syndrome is a common cardiac cause of sudden death in patients with structurally normal hearts.
Epidemiology
Age of diagnosis ranges from 2 days to 84 years old. It is estimated to...
Article
Cabrol shunt
The Cabrol shunt or Cabrol fistula, also known as a perigraft-to-right atrial shunt, is a technique used for uncontrolled bleeding following aortic root operations.
Rationale
The Cabrol shunt is applied when bleeding from an aortic root reconstruction cannot be controlled by traditional means ...
Article
Calcium density score
The calcium density score is referred to as a measure to quantify coronary artery calcium.
Measurement
Calcium density itself describes the concentration of calcium in a specific atherosclerotic plaque 1. Calcium density can be calculated by dividing the Agatston score by the total area of cal...
Article
Calcium mass score
The calcium mass score was introduced to determine the absolute mass of coronary artery calcium with the help of a cardiac calibration phantom and the use of correction factors 1,4.
The method itself comprises the integration of signal above a given threshold 3. Even though, higher sensitivity ...
Article
Calcium volume score
The calcium volume score is referred to as a measure to quantify coronary artery calcium and is a variant to calculate coronary artery calcium 1-3.
Its calculation includes all voxels with a Hounsfield attenuation > 130 and this is done by multiplying the volume of each voxel, determined by the...
Article
Carcinoid heart disease
Carcinoid heart disease, also known as Hedinger syndrome, is a known complication of carcinoid tumors, and is particularly prevalent in patients who develop carcinoid syndrome.
Epidemiology
Cardiac lesions are present in approximately 50% of patients with carcinoid syndrome 1.
Clinical presen...
Article
Cardiac amyloidosis
Cardiac amyloidosis (plural: amyloidoses) is a significant source of morbidity among patients with systemic amyloidosis and is the most common cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy outside the tropics.
Pathology
Amyloidosis represents the extra-cellular deposition of insoluble fibrillar proteina...
Article
Cardiac angiosarcoma
Cardiac angiosarcomas are the most common sarcoma involving the heart (see cardiac tumors).
Please refer to the article on angiosarcomas for a general discussion about this entity.
Epidemiology
They occur slightly more frequently in males.
Clinical presentation
Patients usually present wi...
Article
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is the term used for the abrupt loss of cardiac pump function such that an adequate circulation cannot be maintained. Despite recent modest improvements in survival, it usually leads to death, if not immediately treated. Arrests may be in-hospital or out-of-hospital.
Epidemiolog...
Article
Cardiac blood pool scan
A multi-gated (MUGA) cardiac blood pool scan (sometimes just called a MUGA scan) is a common study performed in patients who are receiving potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy.
Indications
acute myocardial infarction (AMI)
coronary artery disease (CAD)
evaluation after coronary artery bypas...
Article
Cardiac calcification
Cardiac calcification is a broad term for any calcification affecting the valves, coronary arteries, aortic root, endocardium, myocardium, and/or pericardium.
Pathology
Causes of cardiac calcification are:
coronary artery disease (most common)
coronary artery aneurysms, e.g. in Kawasaki dise...
Article
Cardiac chamber enlargement
Cardiac chamber enlargement can be recognized by cardiac contour changes, new or different interfaces with adjacent lung, and/or displacement of adjacent mediastinal structures. These are discussed separately:
right atrial enlargement
right ventricular enlargement
left atrial enlargement
lef...
Article
Cardiac conduction devices
Implantable cardiac conduction devices (also known as cardiac implantable electronic devices or CIEDs) are a very common medical device of the thorax, with over one million implanted in the United States of America alone.
There are two major types of cardiac conduction devices: pacemakers and a...
Article
Cardiac CT
Computed tomography of the heart or cardiac CT is routinely performed to gain knowledge about cardiac or coronary anatomy, to detect or diagnose coronary artery disease (CAD), to evaluate patency of coronary artery bypass grafts or implanted coronary stents or to evaluate volumetry and cardiac f...
Article
Cardiac CT (an approach)
Cardiac CT can be a more or less frequent examination faced in daily practice also depending on the institution and the CT scanner technology available. With technological advances and improved dose reduction techniques in the last decade, cardiac CT has become increasingly popular.
What is pre...
Article
Cardiac curriculum
The cardiac curriculum is one of our curriculum articles and aims to be a collection of articles that represent the core cardiac knowledge.
Definition
Topics pertaining to the heart and pericardium, but excluding the mediastinum (see: chest curriculum) and great vessels (see: vascular curricul...
Article
Cardiac fibroma
Cardiac fibromas, also known as cardiac fibromatosis, are benign congenital cardiac tumors that usually manifest in children.
Epidemiology
Cardiac fibromas are tumors that primarily affect children (most cases are detected in infants or in utero) with a ratio of 4:1 compared with adults 5. Th...
Article
Cardiac fibrous skeleton
The fibrous skeleton of the heart is a complex set of collagenous rings that connect annuli of all four cardiac valves. Between the four annuli are two trigones (right and left) and the membranous portions of the interatrial, interventricular, and atrioventricular septa. The annuli of the two se...
Article
Cardiac function
Cardiac function refers to the hearts capability to fulfill its task as the motor or pump of the blood circuit satisfying the bodies demands of oxygen and nutritive substances as well as the removal of waste products.
A direct measure of cardiac function is cardiac output which can be increased...
Article
Cardiac gating (MRI)
Cardiac gating or cardiac triggering refers to the gain of information about specific time points and its use for image acquisition during the cardiac cycle.
Technique
Cardiac synchronization can be achieved by the ECG signal or alternatively with a peripheral pulse transducer. The following t...
Article
Cardiac herniation
Cardiac herniation refers to herniation of the heart outside its expected position. It can be intrathoracic or extrathoracic.
Pathology
A cardiac herniation secondary to pericardial rupture is rare, but a highly lethal injury with most patients dying before arrival at a hospital.
Diagnosis in...
Article
Cardiac imaging planes
Cardiac imaging planes are standard orientations for displaying the heart on MRI, CT, SPECT, and PET, similar to those used in echocardiography. The planes are defined in reference to the long axis of the left ventricle, which is the line that connects the ventricular apex to the center of the m...
Article
Cardiac iron overload protocol (MRI)
The cardiac MRI iron overload protocol encompasses a set of different MRI sequences for the cardiac assessment in case of suspected iron overload cardiomyopathy.
Note: This article aims to frame a general concept of a cardiac MRI protocol in the above setting.
Protocol specifics will vary dep...
Article
Cardiac ischemia protocol (MRI)
The cardiac MRI ischemia or stress protocol encompasses a set of different MRI sequences for the assessment of myocardial ischemia.
Note: This article aims to frame a general concept of a cardiac MRI protocol in the setting of vasodilator stress perfusion testing.
Protocol specifics will vary ...