title: How to approach cardiac diagnosis from the chest radiograph.
abstract: Direct visualization of pathologic changes in the heart has significantly influenced the diagnostic accuracy and management of patients with cardiovascular disease. This article presents an approach to plain film examination of the heart based on basic principles of radiologic evaluation. It emphasizes the relationship between the radiologic appearance of a structure and the technique used to obtain that image, and the relationship between the observation of a structural abnormality and the anatomic relationships that allow that observation to be made. This approach is simple, organized in a logical manner, and when applied rigorously results in not only accurate and insightful differential diagnosis, but also a deep understanding of cardiovascular disease processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mlipton@partners.org
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lipton
authors.forename: Lawrence M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Boxt
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic