Car­diac ima­ging (CT/MRI/PET/SPECT)

The heart is the most important muscle in our body. Its health is the basic prerequisite for performance and resilience, which is why cardiac imaging, which enables precise visualisation, is of great importance.

• CT
  Coronary CT is used for cardiac imaging. This is a non-invasive method to visualise the coronary vessels (anatomy of the coronary arteries) with determination of the calcium content, possibly soft plaques. In order to achieve optimum image quality, a low pulse rate should be aimed for, so that a drug to reduce the pulse rate is administered in advance if necessary.
  
  We also perform TAVI-CT as pre-interventional diagnostics. This helps in deciding the correct prosthesis size before transcatheter valves, for the exact measurement of the valve and the downstream vessels and their calcification, especially the pelvic vessels. Based on this, the access route is decided (femoral vs. transapical).
• MRI
  Magnetic resonance imaging is used to visualise the heart muscle more precisely. The different behaviour of the tissue (muscle vs. fibrosis, etc.) after the administration of contrast medium (gadolinium) enables better characterisation, which can provide information on other diseases. If a clarification of circulatory disorders (ischaemia) is required, a "stress medication" (adenosine: causes dilatation = widening of the blood vessels) is also administered.
• PET (positron emission tomography)/SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography)
  This method also makes it possible to detect myocardial circulatory disorders. In which the uptake of the slightly radioactive substance (tracer) is compared at rest vs. under stress (with medication). At St. Claraspital, cardiac PET is usually used, which offers a higher resolution with lower radiation exposure and also allows conclusions to be drawn regarding microcirculatory disorders.