Vascular diagnostics traditionally rely on x-ray angiography. This approach remains even today essential in the clinical work-up of patients with vascular pathology. Recently, however, newer imaging modalities have been intro duced to assess vascular disease. Among these the color Doppler flow and magnetic resonance imaging appear the most promising. Due to their noninva sive character both methods are ideally suited for screening as well as serial follow-up of vascular patients. The emergence of color Doppler flow and magnetic resonance vascular imaging coincides with new concepts in vascular medicine. Today, vascular prevention and percutaneous interventions are becoming the leading compo nents in modern vascular care. It is in this new and exciting environment of novel vascular concepts where the demand for reliable noninvasive vascular imaging is becoming a high priority. Color Doppler flow and magnetic reso nance vascular imaging are well on the way to satisfy this demand. This textbook provides the long awaited information on vascular imaging by color Doppler flow and magnetic resonance. The text covers the essentials of vascular anatomy, physiology and noninvasive imaging technology before providing a state-of-the-art review of their current clinical applications. All chapters are written by competent scientists and clinicians in a clear, conscise and yet thorough and exhaustive manner. The coherent and didactic composi tion of the textbook allows the reader an easy access to the elementary as well as the advanced principals and clinical applications of the modern noninvasive vascular imaging.

The spectrum of cardiovascular diseases is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Early assessment and treatment of these conditions, acquired as well as congenital, is therefore of paramount importance. The human heart has a great ability to adapt to various hemodynamic conditions by cardiac remodeling. Pathologic cardiac remodeling can occur as a result of cardiovascular disease in an effort to maintain satisfactory cardiac function. With time, cardiac function diminishes leading to disease progression and subsequent heart failure, the end-point of many heart diseases, associated with very poor prognosis. Within the normal cardiac ventricles blood flows in highly organized patterns, and changes in cardiac configuration or function will affect these flow patterns. Conversely, altered flows and pressures can bring about cardiac remodeling. In congenital heart disease, even after corrective surgery, cardiac anatomy and thereby intracardiac blood flow patterns are inherently altered. The clinically most available imaging technique, ultrasound with Doppler, allows only for one-directional flow assessment and is limited by the need of clear examination windows, thus failing to fully assess the complex three-dimensional blood flow within the beating heart. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) with phase-contrast has the ability to acquire three-dimensional (3D), three-directional time resolved velocity data (3D + time = 4D flow data) from which visualization and quantification of blood flow patterns over the complete cardiac cycle can be performed. Four functional blood flow components have previously been defined based on the blood route and distribution through the ventricle, where the inflowing blood that passes directly to the outflow is called Direct flow. From these components, various quantitative measures can be derived, such as component volumes and kinetic energy (KE) throughout the cardiac cycle. In addition, the 4D flow technique has the ability to quantify and visualize turbulent flow with increased velocity fluctuations in the heart and vessels, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The technique has been developed and evaluated for assessment of left ventricular (LV) blood flow in healthy subjects and in patients with dilated dysfunctional left ventricles, showing significant changes in blood flow patterns and energetics with disease. There is however still no study addressing the gap in the spectrum from the healthy cohorts to patients with moderate to severe left ventricular remodeling. In Paper III, 4D flow CMR was utilized to assess LV blood flow in patients with subtle LV dysfunction, and a shift in blood flow component volumes and KE was seen from the Direct flow to the non-ejecting blood flow components. In patients with both left- and right-sided acquired and congenital heart disease, right ventricular (RV) function is of great prognostic significance, however this ventricle has historically been somewhat overseen. With its complex geometry, advanced physiology and retrosternal location, assessment of the RV is still challenging and the right ventricular blood flow is still incompletely described. In Paper I, the RV blood flow in healthy subjects was assessed, and the proportionally larger Direct flow component was located in the most basal region of the ventricle and possessed higher levels of KE at end-diastole than the other flow components suggesting that this portion of blood was prepared for efficient systolic ejection. In Paper II, the blood flow was assessed in the RV of patients with subtle primary LV disease, and even if conventional echocardiographic or CMR RV parameters did not show any RV dysfunction, alterations of flow patterns suggestive of RV impairment were found in the patients with the more remodeled LVs. With improvements of the cardiovascular health care, including the surgical techniques, the number of adult patients with surgically corrected complex congenital heart diseases increases, one of which is tetralogy of Fallot (ToF). Surgical repair of ToF involves widening of the pulmonary stenosis, which postoperatively may cause pulmonary insufficiency and regurgitation (PR). Disturbed or turbulent flow patterns are rare in the healthy cardiovascular system. With pathological changes, such as valvular insufficiency, increased amounts of TKE have been demonstrated. Turbulence is known to be harmful to organic tissues and could be significant in the development of ventricular remodeling, such as dilation and other complications seen in Fallot patients. In Paper IV, the RV intraventricular TKE levels were assessed in relation to conventional measures of PR. Results showed that RV TKE was increased in ToF patients with PR compared to healthy controls, and that these 4D flow-specific measures related slightly stronger to indices of RV remodeling than the conventional measures of PR. 4D flow CMR analysis of the intracardiac blood flow has the potential of adding to pathophysiological understanding, and thereby provide useful diagnostic information and contribute to optimization of treatment of heart disease at earlier stages before irreversible and clinically noticeable changes occur. The flow specific measures used in this thesis could be utilized to detect these alterations of intracardiac blood flow and could thus act as potential markers of progressing ventricular dysfunction, pathological remodeling or used for risk stratification in adults with early repair tetralogy of Fallot. Visualizations of intracardiac flow patterns could provide useful information to cardiac/thoracic surgeons pre- and post-operatively.

Since the publication of the second edition of this volume, 3D echocardiography has penetrated the clinical arena and become an indispensable tool for patient care. The previous edition, which was highly commended at the British Medical Book Awards, has been updated with recent publications and improved images. This third edition has added important new topics such as 3D Printing, Surgical and Transcatheter Management, Artificial Valves, and Infective Endocarditis. The book begins by describing the principles of 3D echocardiography, then proceeds to discuss its application to the imaging of • Left and Right Ventricle, Stress Echocardiography • Left Atrium, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy • Mitral Regurgitation with Surgical and Nonsurgical Procedures • Mitral Stenosis and Percutaneous Mitral Valvuloplasty • Aortic Stenosis with TAVI / TAVR • Aortic and Tricuspid Regurgitation • Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Aorta • Speckle Tracking, Cardiac Masses, Atrial Fibrillation KEY FEATURES In-depth clinical experiences of the use of 3D/2D echo by world experts Latest findings to demonstrate clinical values of 3D over 2D echo One-click view of 263 innovative videos and 352 high-resolution 3D/2D color images in a supplemental eBook.

The first book to cover the groundbreaking development and clinical applications of Magnetic Resonance Elastography, this book is essential for all practitioners interested in this revolutionary diagnostic modality. The book is divided into three sections. The first covers the history of MRE. The second covers technique and clinical applications of MRE in the liver with respect to fibrosis, liver masses, and other diseases. Case descriptions are presented to give the reader a hands-on approach. The final section presents the techniques, sequence and preliminary results of applications in other areas of the body including muscle, brain, lung, heart, and breast.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging" that was published in Applied Sciences

The introduction of quantitative Doppler echocardiography gave rise to explo sive interest in the application of this method in clinical cardiology. However, before cardiologists could fully validate its clinical utility, they were confronted with a further development, namely color-coded Doppler flow imaging. This new technique allows a comprehensive study of the direction, velocity, uniformity and timing of intracardiac blood flow, while simultaneously revealing cardiac struc tures and their movement. 'Color Doppler' facilitates the diagnosis of a variety of cardiac conditions, and an overwhelming amount of information is available at any instant. Interpretation of these fascinating images requires a substantial experience and theoretical background. This monograph updates the application of color Doppler to both congenital and acquired heart disease. The work comprises 15 chapters written by authorities in the field, each of whom presents his most recent experience in the field. In addition, further advantages in the clinical use of pulsed and continuous wave Doppler in pediatric and adult cardiol ogy are presented. This book contains, of course, many color plates. 1. Roelandt, M.D. VII Contents Preface V List of contributors IX 1. Technical aspects and physical principles revisited Structure and performances of mono- and bidimensional pulsed Doppler systems 3 P. Peronneau, B. Diebold, J.P. Guglielmi, O. Lanusel, R. Bele, J. Souquet Estimation of transvalvular pressure drops hy Doppler echocardiography: the Bernoulli equation revisited 19 H. Rijsterborgh, 1. Roelandt Factors influencing fluid velocity measurements in valvular regurgitation 29 B. Wranne, P. Ask, D.

This book provides the necessary understanding of the physical principles to produce clear and diagnostically secure Doppler ultrasound scans.