The Role of Multimodality Imaging in Cardiomyopathy

There has been increasing use of multimodality imaging in the evaluation of cardiomyopathies.

Echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), cardiac nuclear imaging, and cardiac computed tomography (CCT) play an important role in the diagnosis, risk stratification, and management of patients with cardiomyopathies.

Echocardiography is essential in the initial assessment of suspected cardiomyopathy, but a multimodality approach can improve diagnostics and management. CMR allows for accurate measurement of volumes and function, and can easily detect unique pathologic structures. In addition, contrast imaging and parametric mapping enable the characterization of tissue features such as scar, edema, infiltration, and deposition. In non-ischemic cardiomyopathies, metabolic and molecular nuclear imaging is used to diagnose rare but life-threatening conditions such amyloidosis and sarcoidosis. There is an expanding use of CCT for planning electrophysiology procedures such as cardioversion, ablations, and device placement. Furthermore, CCT can evaluate for complications associated with advanced heart failure therapies such as cardiac transplant and mechanical support devices. Innovations in multimodality cardiac imaging should lead to increased volumes and better outcomes.