Coronary Microcirculation in the Clinical Context

Book excerpt: The increasing awareness of coronary microvascular dysfunction through the broad spectrum of car-diovascular disease makes this pathophysiological feature an important aspect to study in clinical practice. A multimodality approach, including echocardiography, cardiovascular magnetic resonance, PET and cardiac catheterization, allows a holistic view into microcirculation in each entity, and contri-butes for a better understanding of the pathophysiology.The search for coronary microvascular dysfunction may potentially change the management of the patient and treatment approach, with recognized prognostic impact. This book aims to review the principal aspects of coronary microvascu-lar dysfunction, from the pathophysiology, to imaging, clinical relevance and treatment.