Non-invasive imaging modalities for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease: The present and the future

Wen-Chun Lan^{a, b}, Yu-Hung Chen^c, Shu-Hsin Liu^{c, d}

^a Department of Pharmacy, Mennonite Christian Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
^b Department of Nuclear Medicine, Mennonite Christian Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
^c Department of Nuclear Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
^d School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan

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Abstract
The prevalence and economic burden of coronary artery disease are high. New noninvasive diagnostic imaging methods have evolved in recent decades, including coronary computed tomography angiography and cardiac magnetic resonance angiography. Investigations into functional ischemic parameters have also been added to anatomical imaging to improve diagnostic performance, including the fractional flow reserve calculated from contrast computed tomography, perfusion computed tomography, perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, a combination of coronary computed tomography angiography with myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and the myocardial flow reserve calculated from perfusion positron emission tomography. In this article, we will discuss progress in noninvasive imaging modalities for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and trends for the future.

Keywords
Cardiac computed tomography angiography; Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; Coronary artery disease; Myocardial perfusion image; Noninvasive image