ADVANCED CARDIAC IMAGING UNIT

Echocardiography, Computed Axial Tomography (CT) y Cardiac resonance. 

La echocardiography It is the cornerstone of cardiac imaging, being the oldest technique, with great advances over time, from which a wide range of techniques are derived and where the diagnosis and monitoring of our patients is initially focused; It allows ultrasound assessment of the cardiac structures, moving images of the heart are obtained, which can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional and with the application of color Doppler, it is initially performed through the thorax (transthoracic echocardiogram), but there are also more specific techniques such as transesophageal echocardiogram (semi-invasive evaluation of the heart by introducing a specific probe through the esophagus to visualize the cardiac structures in better detail), stress echocardiogram through exercise and drugs (the heart is subjected to physical stress or through the administration of drugs and the contractility of the heart and sometimes the valve functions are assessed through the transthoracic echocardiogram); Administration of bubble contrast is also possible to enhance the image and rule out short circuits.

Additionally, we carry out cardiac resonance, which is a complex technique with great evolution and development in recent decades, allows the anatomical and functional assessment of cardiac structures, being the reference technique for the anatomical and functional assessment of the heart, it also provides highly specialized information about the muscle. myocardial, one of its main uses being the assessment of myocardial viability, that is, through the administration of gadolinium contrast or stress induction using drugs, heart scars can be assessed, guide and predict the response of the cardiac muscle to other specific cardiological techniques and treatments.

Finally, in the last two decades, a technique that has revolutionized clinical cardiology is the cardiac CT, allowing through the use of radiation and iodinated contrast the perfection of the image, clearly showing the myocardial muscle and the arteries of the heart, being today the ideal test for the non-invasive assessment of the coronary arteries and cardiac structures, in patients with low-intermediate risk. Among its other applications are also the Coronary Calcium Score (assessment of the burden of coronary heart disease and stratification of patients within risk groups) and the study of the main cardiac vascular structures such as the thoracic aorta, pulmonary veins, aortic valve, among others.

• 2D, 3D and Color Doppler transthoracic echocardiogram.
• 2D and 3D Transesophageal Echocardiogram.
• Bubble echocardiogram: detection of shunts/short circuits.
• Stress Echocardiography.
• Pharmacological stress echocardiogram.
• Coronary Calcium Score.
• CT of coronary arteries.
• Cardiac CT.
• CT of pulmonary veins.
• CT scan of the thoracic aorta.
• Cardiac and Aortic CT for planning percutaneous aortic valve implantation (TAVI).
• Cardiac resonance without contrast (anatomical and functional studies).
• Cardiac resonance with resting contrast (anatomical, functional and myocardial viability studies).
• Stress cardiac resonance (anatomical, functional, myocardial viability and pharmacologically induced myocardial ischemia studies).
• Thoracic Aortic Resonance without/with contrast.