Valvular heart medicine revolves around the need to accurately identify locations of pathological structures and/or the interventional tools needed to manage that pathology. The imaging of the valves is developing at an enormous pace and the clinician must be aware of the advantages of each modality and how it compares to the others available. There is a need for a practical, clinical atlas designed to work the reader through cases and assessing the gold standard choices available to physicians. This atlas will represent the full multimodality imaging decisions needed when assessing mitral valvular disorders. Within this atlas the authors will be presenting a comprehensive pictorial overview of the highly complex pathology/treatment techniques and management in this diverse group of patients with varied mitral valvular pathologies. Imaging modalities move fast representing challenge to practitioners. This atlas will enable them to learn the choices available and be well versed in techniques. It will therefore be essential reading for all cardiac imagers, surgeons, interventionalists, anesthetists and trainees in these disciplines.
About the Author: Milind Desai, MD, is a staff cardiologist in the Section of Cardiovascular Imaging, the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiology, cardiac CT and nuclear cardiology. He holds dual appointment in the departments of cardiovascular medicine and radiology. Dr. Desai's is an expert in multi-modality cardiovascular imaging, having achieved the highest level of proficiency in all imaging modalities, including Cardiac MRI, Cardiac CT, Echocardiography and Nuclear Cardiology. His patient-related interests include evaluation and management of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, complex valvular disease, complex coronary artery disease, pericardial diseases and radiation heart disease. His research interests include the following: noninvasive atherosclerosis imaging using CT and MRI, understanding the role of evolving techniques, such as cardiac CT in cardiac risk prediction. all aspects of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy research, multimodality imaging and outcomes assessment in ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathies, outcomes in valvular and radiation heart disease.