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Many noninvasive and invasive tests can delineate cardiac structure and function (see Table 1: Cardiovascular Tests and Procedures: Tests for Assessing Cardiac Anatomy and Function). Also, treatments can be administered during certain invasive diagnostic tests (eg, percutaneous coronary intervention during cardiac catheterization, radiofrequency ablation during electrophysiologic testing).

Table 1
Tests for Assessing Cardiac Anatomy and Function Application Tests Left ventricular function Echocardiography Multiple-gated acquisition (MUGA) radionuclide imaging Gated MRI Contrast ventriculography Coronary artery disease diagnosis and prognosis Exercise or pharmacologic stress testing with ECG, myocardial perfusion imaging, or echocardiography Magnetic resonance angiography Coronary angiography Intravascular ultrasonography Multidetector CT coronary angiography Myocardial viability Resting single-photon emission CT (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging Stress testing (using low-dose dobutamine Some Trade Names DOBUTREX Click for Drug Monograph ) with echocardiography PET Gated MRI

Last full review/revision May 2009 by Michael J. Shea, MD

Content last modified May 2009