Clinical Research at Monzino – Department of Cardiovascular Imaging
Quick Facts
"The research activities of Monzino’s Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, adopting a multidisciplinary approach in collaboration with other divisions of the Institute, are focused on specific clinical settings involving the assessment of patients undergoing electrophysiological procedures, heart failure therapies, coronary angioplasty, and cardiac surgery. Particular emphasis is placed on procedures such as percutaneous left atrial appendage closure, transcatheter or transapical aortic valve implantation (TAVI), and percutaneous mitral valve repair using the MitraClip system."
Prof. Gianluca Pontone
Several research areas are pursued by the Department of Cardiovascular Imaging as a whole. Research activities are deeply integrated with the Department’s daily clinical practice, encompassing echocardiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Many research projects adopt a multidisciplinary (or multimodal) approach, integrating data obtained from all imaging modalities.
Thanks to close collaboration with bioengineers and biologists, several translational research projects have been established.
In particular, imaging data on aortic valve sclerosis and mitral valve prolapse have been collected and correlated with various biomarkers and genetic information to better clarify the complex relationship between valve degeneration and cardiovascular risk factors. Regarding cardiac chamber morphology, ongoing studies are focused on improving the automated quantification of left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) volumes through the development of novel algorithms.