Noninvasive cardiac imaging is the physician's most helpful tool in determining the extent of heart disease or damage. With the use of small amounts of radiation or chemicals, pictures of the heart and blood vessels are obtained. The most common imaging technique is the x-ray. With echocardiography or dynamic CT (computed tomography) scan, the physician is capable of imaging a moving, beating heart. A PET (positron emission tomography) image enables the cardiologist to "see" the heart at many angles and at different levels. Results from imaging procedures help the physician make better decisions regarding therapy.

26. Fluoroscopy, commonly referred to as X-ray, c. 1900.

27. Intracoronary echocardiograph image. Photograph courtesy of Charles M. McKay, MD, UIHC.

28. Tomographic cine CT image of a clot in the left atrial appendage. Photograph courtesy of Maleah Grover-McKay, MD, UIHC.

29. Cine (motion picture) magnetic resonance image demonstrating blood leaking from the left ventricle back into the left atrium across the mitral valve. Photograph courtesy of Maleah Grover-McKay, MD, UIHC.

30. Tomographic cine CT images. Photograph courtesy of Maleah Grover-McKay, MD, UIHC.