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Pharmacologic Stress Agents for Cardiac Imaging

  • Cardiac Nuclear Imaging (A Cuocolo, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Non-invasive cardiac imaging plays a major role in modern Cardiology and is becoming an essential step in the assessment of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. In this setting, cardiac imaging is combined with stress to assess the functional significance of coronary stenosis. Dynamic exercise is the most physiological form of stress and hence it is regarded as the stress modality of choice. When exercise is not possible, pharmacological stress can be used as an effective and safe alternative. We here describe the mechanism of action, protocols, indications and contraindications as well as the diagnostic performance and safety profile of all pharmacological agents currently available for stress imaging with an emphasis on the newly developed A2A adenosine receptor agonist, regadenoson.

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Conflict of Interest

Eliana Reyes declares she has no conflict of interest.

Constantinos Anagnostopoulos declares he has no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Eliana Reyes

  2. Nuclear Medicine Department, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK

    Eliana Reyes

  3. Centre for Clinical Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou Street, 11527, Athens, Greece

    Constantinos Anagnostopoulos

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  1. Eliana Reyes
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  2. Constantinos Anagnostopoulos
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Correspondence to Constantinos Anagnostopoulos.

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Reyes, E., Anagnostopoulos, C. Pharmacologic Stress Agents for Cardiac Imaging. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 6, 369–378 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-013-9212-6

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