Clinical Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging

Molecular imaging holds the promise of becoming a key diag-nostic modality in cardiovascular medicine by allowing visualiza-tion of specific targets and pathways that precede or underlie changes in morphology, physiology, and function. As such, mo-lecular imaging aims at detecting precursors or early stages of cardiovascular disease and at monitoring and guiding novel, in-creasingly specific and versatile cardiovascular therapies. Imag-ing of myocardial metabolism and autonomic innervation are already used in current practice, and a wide variety of other tar-gets and probes is on the horizon. This focused review provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges that molecular imaging faces to fulfill its promises in clinical cardiovascular medicine. Key Words: molecular imaging; cardiovascular disease; myo-cardial metabolism; myocardial innervatio