Follow-up of coronary artery patency after implantation of bioresorbable coronary scaffolds: The emerging role of magnetic coronary artery imaging.

Bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVSs) represent the newest tool in the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Conversely to the previous metal stents and thanks to the polylactate-based backbone, BVSs could be visualized by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without artifacts. These properties allow a potential non-invasive assessment of coronary artery patency after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), avoiding cardiac catheterization included iodine contrast and radiation exposure, and potentially more sophisticated imaging tool as the optical coherence tomography (OCT). We reviewed the available medical literature on the coronary MRI evaluation of BVS after PCI, also discussing its potential diagnostic role in the long-term follow-up of these patients.

Differentiation of cardiac thrombus from cardiac tumor combining cardiac MRI and 18F-FDG-PET/CT Imaging.

Radiological differentiation of an unknown cardiac masse is often a challenging issue. 18F-FDG-PET/CT imaging was performed to evaluate a left ventricle mass visualized on transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in a patient with an history of ischemic heart disease. The metabolically inert area on the PET/CT, corresponding to the relatively homogenous hypodensity in the LV, was thought to represent an old organized LV thrombus. Histopathological examination confirmed the imaging diagnosis.