TESTING OUR TESTS: THE EVOLUTION OF EVIDENCE FOR CARDIAC IMAGING.

While technical advances in cardiac imaging have been quite substantial, the true efficacy of imaging and how the resulting data affect patients and outcomes have been questioned. A six-level framework has been proposed for critically assessing the value of imaging. This report traces the evolution of cardiac imaging through the prism of this framework to demonstrate that cardiac imaging in contemporary practice is often supported by evidence from rigorous randomized trials.