What is advanced cardiac imaging and when is it recommended?

Transcript

So when we talk about advanced cardiac imaging, we're typically referring to scans such as MRI, CT, or perhaps even nuclear imaging, something we use far less often nowadays due to the high radiation burden. So I'd say cardiac, MRI and cardiac CT are what I would suggest advanced imaging is represented by. And that's separate to our standard ultrasound imaging, our echocardiography, which we offer to most of our patients.

Now we use advanced imaging when we need to look at specific issues. Is there any evidence of blockages in the coronary artery? So a CT coronary angiogram is considered the gold standard to understand whether there is buildup of plaque and potential blockages in the coronary arteries.

And an MRI of your heart gives us a real understanding of whether there is any inflammation or scarring in the heart muscle, something called tissue characterisation, which an echocardiogram is unable to do.