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Assessment of pulmonary hypertension by CT and MR imaging

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Abstract

In the recent World Health Organization (WHO) classification the group of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PH) comprises the classic primary pulmonary hypertension and several conditions with definite or very high risk factors to develop pulmonary arterial hypertension. Therapeutic advances drive the need for a comprehensive pre-therapeutic evaluation for optimal treatment. Furthermore, follow-up examinations need to be performed to monitor changes in disease status and response to therapy. Up to now, the diagnostic imaging work-up of PH comprises mainly echocardiography, invasive right heart catheterization and ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy. Due to technical advances helical computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) became more important in the evaluation and for differential diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Both modalities are reviewed and recommendations for clinical use are given.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sebastian Ley, Christian Fink & Hans-Ulrich Kauczor

  2. Department of Radiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany

    Sebastian Ley, Karl-Friedrich Kreitner & Claus P. Heussel

  3. Department of Internal Medicine III, Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Mathias M. Borst

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  1. Sebastian Ley
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  2. Karl-Friedrich Kreitner
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  3. Christian Fink
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  6. Hans-Ulrich Kauczor
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Correspondence to Sebastian Ley.

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This work was supported by the German Research Council (DFG, FOR 474).

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Ley, S., Kreitner, KF., Fink, C. et al. Assessment of pulmonary hypertension by CT and MR imaging. Eur Radiol 14, 359–368 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-003-2208-x

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