Malformazioni congenite ed acquisite delle arterie coronarie in età evolutiva: integrazione tra ecocardiografia e risonanza magnetica cardiaca

Conventional angiography and Computer tomography are currently the modalities of choice to assess and delineate coronary arteries anatomy. However both techniques carry risks associated with the exposure to ionizing radiation and iodinated contrast agents, morever conventional angiography presents the disadvantage of its invasive nature, the lacks of three-dimensional information and the ability to image soft tissue, making it difficult to demonstrate the spatial relationship among the coronary artery course, myocardium, and great vessels. Although angiography by CT scan and cardiac catheterization are still the gold standard for the imaging of the coronary arteries, continuous progress and improvement and the extraordinary sophistication of non – invasive imaging technique such as echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in combination, cannow provide a complete non-invasive alternative evaluation of the anatomic origins and courses of the coronary arteries with exquisite accuracy. Use of these techniques, therefore, will increase the ability to diagnose an increased number of abnormal arrangements. MRI can provide high resolution, high contrast, anatomical images in freely-selectable 2D planes or true 3D volume scans. Anatomical images, combined with the functional information provided by cine, velocity mapping, and dynamic contrast angiography techniques make MRI ideally suited to the evaluation of the coronary anomalies.