Includes References and Index

Cardiovascular imaging is dynamic … not just in the literal sense as one follows
cardiac contraction, but in a more global sense as this book highlights its continuing evolution. Cardiac imaging continues to undergo dramatic technical advances
that spur new applications. The cycle of innovation, application, and innovation is
seen repeatedly in this text. This book does a superb job of capturing the state of
the art.
While there are many cardiac imaging methods, magnetic resonance provides
by far the most comprehensive and diverse approach to understanding cardiovascular physiology and disease. The contributors to this book describe methods
that cover the scale from molecular to macro. At the molecular level, hyperpolarized MRI (Chap. 4) and in vivo spectroscopy (Chaps. 5 and 6) probe cardiac
metabolites in both endogenous and enhanced molecular species. At the cellular
level, molecular-specific contrast agents yield insight into atherosclerosis (Chap.
8) through longitudinal studies that follow the evolution of plaques. At the cytoarchitectural scale, diffusion MRI and tractography (Chap. 3) illuminate details
of the functional building units of the heart. At the meso- and macroscale,
dynamic imaging methods (Chaps. 1, 2, and 9) simultaneously yield structure
and function.
This book is comprehensive in a second important sense in that it covers cardiovascular disease in a truly interdisciplinary fashion. The fundamental physics
of NMR is discussed in a comprehensible and relevant fashion. Engineering
details of pulse sequences and novel strategies for measuring stress and strain are
made clear. The chemistry underlying the metabolic pathways is accessible.
Methods for quantitative measure of cardiovascular physiology and mechanics are
included. Throughout, the many interdisciplinary threads are woven into the fabric of clinical cardiovascular disease. This book will find ready use by both basic
scientists and clinicians seeking to use NMR/MRI to further understand cardiovascular disease.