Imaging
Morphological imaging includes:
- Echocardiography
- Magnetic resonance imaging
- Cineangiography
- CT imaging
Functional investigation includes:
- Doppler echocardiography
- Colour flow imaging
- Radionuclide imaging
- M-mode echocardiography
- Magnetic resonance imaging
- Cardiac catheterisation
Radionuclide imaging will now be covered in more detail on the following pages.
Imaging plays a major role in the management of congenital heart diseases. With recent advances in imaging, defects can be diagnosed even in-utero and early management strategy can be charted.
Imaging can be divided into morphological and functional.
The role of nuclear medicine investigations in paediatric cardiology is to assess a function once when cardiac anatomy has already been established.
Cineangiography, cross-sectional echography and MRI provide high resolution images in an assessment of anatomy of the complex congenital heart defects.
