1. Status and potential clinical value of a transthoracic evaluation of the coronary arteries
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Fabien Labombarda, Cesare R. Sirtori, Samuela Castelnuovo, Dionysis Goularas, Labombarda, F., Castelnuovo, S., Goularas, D., Sirtori, C.R., and Yeditepe Üniversitesi
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medicine.medical_specialty ,Technology Assessment, Biomedical ,Harmonic imaging: coronary reserve ,Intima-media thickness ,Disease ,Coronary Artery Disease ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Coronary artery ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Internal medicine ,medicine.artery ,Ultrasound ,medicine ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,coronary reserve [Harmonic imaging] ,Angiology ,Aorta ,Evidence-Based Medicine ,business.industry ,Statins ,Reproducibility of Results ,General Medicine ,Evidence-based medicine ,Image Enhancement ,Coronary Vessels ,Coronary arteries ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Echocardiography ,Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Cardiology ,Clinical value ,Feasibility Studies ,Radiology ,Technical Notes ,business ,Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine ,Artery - Abstract
The growing need for coronary evaluation has raised interest in non-radioactive, non-invasive monitoring systems. In particular, radiation exposure during coronary investigations has been shown to be a possible cause of an enhanced risk of secondary tumors. Literature search has indicated that transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has been widely applied to coronary arteries up to 2003, following which the lack of adequate equipment and the increased availability of invasive diagnostics, has reduced interest in this low cost, low-risk technology. The more recent availability of newer, more sensitive machines, allows evaluation of a larger number of arterial trees, including the aorta in newborns, the prenatal aortic intima-media thickness, as well as the detection of coronary artery anomalies in the adult. Improved technology for this highly operator sensitive technique may thus predict a possible evolution toward the clinical diagnostics of coronary disease and, eventually, also of the progression/regression of disease. We sought to evaluate the present status of this seldom quoted non-invasive technology. © 2016 Labombarda et al.
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