Eugene Lin, MD
In patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), what should be imaged, and how should we image it? Is there any role for imaging in asymptomatic people at risk? Should we image atherosclerosis, anatomy, or ischemia, or some combination thereof? Should we use CT, MRI, single photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT), PET, or some combination of these modalities? How will current and future economic and policy issues bear on these questions?
Anatomy is typically imaged by evaluating the degree of luminal stenosis. Ischemia can be imaged by evaluating perfusion or motion. There are many ways to image atherosclerosis (plaque). When considering which of these processes to image, it is useful to consider asymptomatic and symptomatic patients separately.