New Imaging Frontiers in Cardiology: Fast and Quantitative Maps from Raw Data

Methods: In this review article we present several methods that can be used for obtaining parametric maps, in a fast way, starting from the acquired raw data. We describe both methods commonly used in clinical research, and more innovative methods that build maps directly from the raw data, without going through the image reconstruction.

Background: Among the novelties in the field of cardiovascular imaging, the construction of quantitative maps in a fast and efficient way is one of the most interesting aspects of the clinical research. Quantitative parametric maps are typically obtained by post processing dynamic images, that is, sets of images usually acquired in different temporal intervals, where several images with different contrasts are obtained. Magnetic resonance imaging, and emission tomography (positron emission and single photon emission) are the imaging techniques best suited for the formation of quantitative maps.