Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging in Patients with Known and Suspected Coronary Artery Disease: What is in it for the Interventional Cardiologist?

Advanced imaging techniques (CT and MR): Gender-based diagnostic work-up in ischemic heart disease?

It is ascertained that the epidemiology and social impact of ischemic heart disease is substantially different between the two genders. Moreover, there is substantial evidence that gender is able to modulate the clinical manifestation of most cardiac diseases, and specifically of coronary artery disease. Particularly, women present less angiographically significant coronary artery disease, smaller vessel lumen, and less plaque rupture occurrence as compared to men. On the contrary, manifestations as vasospasm, impaired vasodilatation at epicardial level, and microvascular dysfunction are more common in female. In clinical practice, it is important to know the gender-based aspects of clinical disease expression and how to diversify the diagnostic work-up. Cardiac Computed Tomography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance are relatively new diagnostic imaging tools employed for studying both the cardiac structures and the pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system. In this paper, we aim to overview the non-invasive diagnostic role in a gender's dimension, mainly focusing on Cardiac Computed Tomography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in ischemic heart disease, and to understand whether the existing evidences support a different diagnostic work-up approach.

Coronary microvascular dysfunction in women with nonobstructive ischemic heart disease as assessed by positron emission tomography

Traditional approaches for risk assessment of ischemic heart disease (IHD) are based on the physiological consequences of an epicardial coronary stenosis. Of note, normal coronary arteries or nonobstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) is a common finding in women with signs and symptoms of ischemia. Therefore, assessment of risk based on a coronary stenosis approach may fail in women. Positron emission tomography (PET) quantifies absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF) which may help to elucidate other mechanisms involved such as endothelial dysfunction and alterations in the smooth muscle cell relaxation responsible for IHD in women. The objective of the present review is to describe the current state of the art of PET imaging in assessing IHD in women with nonobstructive CAD.