Quantitative cardiovascular imaging

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in advanced countries and its prevalence is increasing among developing countries. Various imaging modalities are increasingly used in the diagnostic evaluation of cardiovascular disease, among which cardiac computed tomography (CT)angiography, cardiac MR, and echocardiography represent the most commonly performed imaging examinations in routine clinical practice, while nuclear medicine imaging such as cardiac single photon emission CT (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) is also frequently used to provide functional assessment of cardiovascular disease (1-5).