الفهرس Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 149 |  |  |
| | | from | 149 | | |
Abstract
With the advent of modern non-invasive cardiac imaging modalities such as echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography (CT) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), direct visualization of the pericardium and related pathology has become a reality.
Although echocardiography is still the first line modality used to explore the pericardium, imaging of the pericardium is often suboptimal especially in ”non-echogenic” patients such as patients with lung emphysema or chest wall deformities. Moreover, differentiation between the pericardium and adjacent pleural fluid, and between paracardiac fat and fluid is often not feasible.
CT and MRI are second-line imaging modalities that have the ability to overcome the limitations of echocardiography. Both are Tomographic techniques with excellent spatial and contrast resolution.
Since the pericardium, a fibro-fluid structure, is surrounded on both sides by fat (mediastinal and epicardial fat layers), excellent contrast is created, and thus the pericardium is ideally suited for evaluation on CT and MRI.