Fluoroscopic anatomy of left-sided heart structures for transcatheter interventions: insight from multislice computed tomography

Abstract

With the introduction of transcatheter structural heart therapies, cardiologists are increasingly aware of the importance of understanding anatomical details of left-sided heart structures. Understanding fluoroscopic cardiac anatomy can facilitate optimal positioning and deployment of prostheses during transcatheter valve repair/replacement, left atrial appendage occlusion, septal defect closure, and paravalvular leak closure. It is possible to use multislice computed tomography to determine optimal fluoroscopic viewing angles for such transcatheter therapies. The purpose of this paper is to describe how optimal fluoroscopic viewing angles of left-sided heart structures can be obtained using computed tomography. Two- and 3-chamber views are described and may become standard in the context of transcatheter structural heart interventions.

Keywords: cardiac imaging; fluoroscopic anatomy; interventional imaging; multislice computed tomography; transcatheter cardiac intervention.