title: Incremental value of PET and MRI in the evaluation of cardiovascular abnormalities.
abstract: The cardiovascular system is affected by a wide range of pathological processes, including neoplastic, inflammatory, ischemic, and congenital aetiology. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) are state-of-the-art imaging modalities used in the evaluation of these cardiovascular disorders. MRI has good spatial and temporal resolutions, tissue characterization and multi-planar imaging/reconstruction capabilities, which makes it useful in the evaluation of cardiac morphology, ventricular and valvar function, disease characterization, and evaluation of myocardial viability. FDG-PET provides valuable information on the metabolic activity of the cardiovascular diseases, including ischemia, inflammation, and neoplasm. MRI and FDG-PET can provide complementary information on the evaluation of several cardiovascular disorders. For example, in cardiac masses, FDG-PET provides the metabolic information for indeterminate cardiac masses. MRI can be used for localizing and characterizing abnormal hypermetabolic foci identified incidentally on PET scan and also for local staging. A recent advance in imaging technology has been the development of integrated PET/MRI systems that utilize the advantages of PET and MRI in a single examination. The goal of this manuscript is to provide a comprehensive review on the incremental value of PET and MRI in the evaluation of cardiovascular diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • MRI has good spatial and temporal resolutions, tissue characterization, and multi-planar reconstruction • FDG-PET provides valuable information on the metabolic activity of cardiovascular disorders • PET and MRI provide complementary information on the evaluation of cardiovascular disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chalian
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: James K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Imaging Laboratory, Imaging Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bolen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. radprabhakar@gmail.com.|Cardiothoracic Imaging, Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas, 75390, USA. radprabhakar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Prabhakar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rajiah
keywords: Cardiac; Ischemia; MRI; Neoplasm; PET