Clinical appraisal of current nuclear and other noninvasive cardiac diagnostic techniques.
At a time of rapid increases in the cost of medical care and the application of complex invasive procedures to cardiovascular diagnosis, the use of noninvasive methods has aroused interest. This report discusses the usefulness and limitations of various noninvasive diagnostic methods including nuclear medicine techniques, echocardiography, exercise electrocardiography and determination of systolic time intervals. Emphasis is placed on the applicability of these methods to specific disease processes (such as ischemic heart disease, cardiac valve disease, pulmonary embolic disease), their relative merits, future potential and present shortcomings.
D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis; D001020:Aortic Stenosis, Subvalvular / Q000175:diagnosis; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis; D008946:Mitral Valve Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis; D009214:Myoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000175:diagnosis; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging