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Innovation in medical imaging is realising new routine and cost-effective ways to detect heart disease early, impacting better imaging techniques.
FREMONT, CA: Researchers found more atherosclerosis, or fatty plaque buildup in the arteries, in people with less than six hours of sleep a night. Medical imaging was utilised to find this as the study used imaging techniques that enabled researchers to identify artery disease symptoms.
Addressing the Global Heart Disease Crisis
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More tools for fighting heart disease are always beneficial, as heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Heart disease costs are also huge due to healthcare services, medicines, and productivity loss. The international science and medical community are dealing with the scourge of heart disease in several ways, from developing new surgical methods and medical devices to creating more effective nutritional and medicinal interventions. However, medical imaging itself is advancing in different ways that help the medical community enhance its response to the heart health crisis.
Paradigm Shifts in Medical Imaging
In recent years, the cardiac imaging landscape has seen a slew of innovations, with better image quality providing radiologists with faster and more accurate readings. Today’s medical imaging assists doctors to see in 3D, providing never-before-possible views of the heart and vascular system. These developments improve doctors’ diagnostic and prognostic abilities to aid patients in identifying heart failure and assessing heart problems much earlier. Now is the time for significant paradigm shifts in medical imaging from two-dimensional to three-dimensional echocardiography, rest-to-stress assessments, and other crucial changes in procedures and techniques.
A new way to X-ray
The latest innovations in medical imaging are not confined to advances in CT scans and MRI technology but include innovations in X-rays as well. A team at University Hospitals worked on a technique enabling the detection of heart disease through a chest x-ray. Instead of using one beam of energy like a standard chest x-ray, their technique uses dual energy technology. This has a way of sending two different x-ray beams of different energies. Through complicated physics, one can highlight and visualise certain tissues. Using the material decomposition technique, a bone-calcium image can be computed using digital subtraction, suppressing the soft tissue component. This means that the procedure can spot calcified structures in the coronary arteries. This new technique proves to be an excellent screening tool for detecting heart disease. X-rays are easier to administer, cost-effective, and have a lower radiation dose than a CT. More people get the opportunity to screen, including in places with limited resources for medical imaging.
Optimal MRI Techniques
MRIs are the ideal imaging technique for diagnosing atherosclerosis, which is the primary cause of heart attacks and strokes. MRIs are well deployed to characterise plaque in the arteries non-invasively as they do not use ionising radiation, which allows for repeated examinations. Moreover, they have excellent soft tissue contrast.
Researchers believe there are technical challenges to address before vessel wall MRIs can fulfil this function to their best ability. There are promising procedures in development for higher-quality atherosclerosis imaging, such as high spatial resolution and signal-to-noise imaging and quantitative T1/T2 mapping for improved plaque characterization, enabling doctors to peer into vessels to catch the warning heart disease signs early.
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