Prognostic value of coronary anatomy and myocardial innervation imaging in cardiac disease

Abstract

Over the last decade, there has been an exponential development in cardiac imaging technology. Currently, cardiac imaging plays a central role in clinical management and decision making in the diverse and growing population of patients encountered in daily cardiology practice. Important outcome-related parameters can be derived from these techniques, allowing better risk stratification of patients with ischemic heart disease. Still, the large amount of information provided by the different imaging modalities can be overwhelming and it can be challenging for the cardiologist to make optimal use of all information that is provided by the different modalities. The purpose of this thesis was to optimize the clinical usefulness of specific cardiac imaging modalities for particular patient categories, with the purpose of improving risk estimation in patients with suspected coronary artery disease, patients who suffered from STEMI and heart failure patients.