Cardiovascular molecular imaging: the road ahead.

Despite significant advancements in medical and device-based therapies, cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States. Early detection of atherosclerosis, prevention of myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death, and modulation of adverse ventricular remodeling still remain elusive goals. Molecular imaging focuses on identifying critical cellular and molecular targets and therefore plays an integral role in understanding these biologic processes in vivo. Because many imaging targets are upregulated before irreversible tissue damage occurs, early detection could ultimately lead to development of novel, preventive therapeutic strategies. This review addresses recent work on radionuclide imaging of cardiovascular inflammation, infection, and infarct healing. We further discuss opportunities provided by multimodality approaches such as PET/MRI and PET/optical imaging.