Cardiology Conference-CVC 2026

Stress imaging is an important diagnostic modality in Cardiology to assess heart function under state of physical or pharmacological stress. It is useful for identifying ischemia, coronary artery disease (CAD), and functional abnormalities of the heart that might not be present at rest.

Stress imaging techniques include:

Stress echocardiography: Combination of ultrasound imaging and a patient undergoing a stress test, either vo luntarily (exercise) or pharmacologically (with a medicine). The assessment will include wall motion assessment, valve function, and overall cardiac performance.

Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI): Utilizes nuclear tracers and either single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for evaluating blood flow to the myocardium under both stress and at rest to measure reversible ischemia or even infarction.

Stress cardiac MRI: Evaluates myocardial perfusion, ventricular function, and/or myocardial viability using high-resolution imaging.

Clinical applications for stress imaging include:

Assessing or diagnosing coronary artery disease, and then to assess the severity of the disease.

Using CAD diagnosis and severity, to help guide treatment decisions on whether the patients should revascularize with procedures involving either percutaneous intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Evaluating prognosis based on heart function and/or perfusion upon presentation of heart disease symptoms.

Monitoring treatment efficacy in patients with CAD risk stratification based on either functional or perfusion assessment.

The advantages of stress imaging include identifying silent ischemia, providing functional and perfusion information for the patient indicated for an imaging assessment, and pragmatically creating a personalized treatment plan. In addition, stress imaging modalities are considered non-invasive (they do not require invasive testing), they are safe, and testing can be patient-specific whether exercising or pharmacological.

Utilizing stress imaging in the typical care of cardiology, the practitioner will""