Imaging-Specific Cardiomyopathies: A Practical Guide

Abstract

Heart failure is a clinical syndrome with a broad spectrum of presentations. Cardiovascular imaging techniques such as echocardiography, cardiovascular magnetic resonance, computed tomography, and nuclear imaging play a crucial role in diagnosis, guiding management, and providing prognostic information. Each of these imaging modalities has their own respective strengths and weaknesses. Cardiac imaging can help differentiate between ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathies. Additionally, imaging techniques can display disease-specific findings, aiding in diagnosis of nonischemic cardiomyopathies and can provide a means to monitor response to therapy. The choice of imaging modality in the workup of cardiomyopathy should be based on the specific clinical question and the knowledge of the strengths and limitations of each imaging modality.

Keywords: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance; Computed tomography; Echocardiography; Ischemic cardiomyopathy; Multimodality imaging; Nonischemic cardiomyopathy; Nuclear imaging.