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Chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) is one of the leading cardiovascular causes of morbidity, mortality, and use of medical resources. After the introduction by international guidelines of the same level of recommendation to non-invasive imaging techniques in CCS evaluation, a large debate arose about the dilemma of choosing anatomical (with coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA)) or functional imaging (with stress echocardiography (SE), cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), or nuclear imaging techniques) as a first diagnostic evaluation. The determinant role of the atherosclerotic burden in defining cardiovascular risk and prognosis more than myocardial inducible ischemia has progressively increased the use of a first anatomical evaluation with CCTA in a wide range of pre-test probability in CCS patients. Functional testing holds importance, both because the role of revascularization in symptomatic patients with proven ischemia is well defined and because functional imaging, particularly with stress cardiac magnetic resonance (s-CMR), gives further prognostic information regarding LV function, detection of myocardial viability, and tissue characterization. Emerging techniques such as stress computed tomography perfusion (s-CTP) and fractional flow reserve derived from CT (FFRCT), combining anatomical and functional evaluation, appear capable of addressing the need for a single non-invasive examination, especially in patients with high risk or previous revascularization. Furthermore, CCTA in peri-procedural planning is promising to acquire greater importance in the non-invasive planning and guiding of complex coronary revascularization procedures, both by defining the correct strategy of interventional procedure and by improving patient selection. This review explores the different roles of non-invasive imaging techniques in managing CCS patients, also providing insights into preoperative planning for percutaneous or surgical myocardial revascularization.

Aims: Carpal tunnel (CT) syndrome is a recognized red-flag of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity. We designed this study to characterize the CV profile of patients with CT syndrome at the time of first surgery and to identify high-risk presentations., Methods and Results: We retrospectively reviewed 643 patients who underwent CT surgery between 2007 and 2019. Of them, 130 patients (77 years, 45% male patients, left ventricular ejection fraction 62%) with available CV characterization within ±12 months from CT surgery were included. Abnormal loading conditions causing cardiac left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were investigated to distinguish explained LVH (Ex-LVH) from unexplained LVH (Un-LVH). LVH was found in 66 (51%) patients, 33% of them presented Un-LVH. Compared with the others, Un-LVH patients were older (77 and 75 vs. 70 years in Un-LVH, Ex-LVH, and non-LVH, respectively; P = 0.002), had higher rates of electrocardiogram-echo discrepancy (70%, 14.3%, and 1.6%, respectively; P < 0.001) and of echocardiographic findings of CA (24%, 7%, and 0%, P < 0.001). Among Un-LVH patients, 9 (43%) experienced death and 7 (33%) developed heart failure (HF) at 3.8 and 2.4 years from CT surgery, respectively. Compared with the others, death and HF development rates were higher in Un-LVH patients both at unadjusted (P = 0.01 and P = 0.02, respectively) and adjusted analysis for age, gender, and renal insufficiency (P = 0.00038 and P = 0.050, respectively)., Conclusions: At the time of CT surgery, Un-LVH was found in more than 30% of patients with LVH, and 24% of them showed echocardiographic features suggesting an underdiagnosed CA. Un-LVH was associated with higher all-cause mortality and HF development., (© 2021 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)