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Visualizing Cardiac Function: Advances in Modern Imaging Diagnostics
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Visualizing Cardiac Function: Advances in Modern Imaging Diagnostics

A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Cardiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 259

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dafni Charisopoulou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Paediatric Cardiology Department, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London WC1N 3JH, UK
Interests: cardiology; cardiac imaging; echocardiography; coronary artery disease; heart failure
Prof. Dr. Michael Henein

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Medical Biotechnologies, Division of Cardiology, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy
2. National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London SW3 6LY, UK
Interests: cardiac imaging; echocardiography; coronary artery disease; valve disease; heart failure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding and quantifying cardiac function is fundamental to diagnosing and managing cardiovascular disease. In recent years, advances in noninvasive imaging have revolutionized the way we visualize the beating heart—allowing for more detailed assessment of anatomy, mechanics, and flow.

This Special Issue focuses on recent innovations in echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), and computed tomography (CT), as well as emerging techniques such as 3D and 4D imaging, myocardial strain analysis, and artificial intelligence–driven image interpretation.

We invite original research and review articles that explore how these modalities contribute to the evaluation of ventricular and atrial performance, myocardial deformation, valvular dynamics, and tissue characterization. Contributions addressing novel imaging biomarkers for heart failure, congenital and valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathies, and ischemic heart disease are particularly welcome.

By gathering current evidence and forward-looking perspectives, this Special Issue aims to showcase how modern imaging is reshaping the understanding of cardiac function—bridging technology and clinical insight to advance precision cardiology.

Dr. Dafni Charisopoulou
Prof. Dr. Michael Henein
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cardiac imaging
  • echocardiography
  • coronary artery disease
  • valve disease
  • heart failure

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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24 pages, 1818 KB  
Systematic Review
Ethnic Variation in Left Ventricular Size and Mechanics During Healthy Pregnancy: A Systematic Review of Asian and Western Cohorts
by Andrea Sonaglioni, Giovanna Margola, Gian Luigi Nicolosi, Stefano Bianchi, Michele Lombardo and Massimo Baravelli
J. Clin. Med. 2025, 14(24), 8745; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14248745 - 10 Dec 2025
Viewed by 191
Abstract
Background: Pregnancy induces substantial cardiovascular remodeling, yet whether maternal cardiac adaptation differs across ethnic groups remains unclear. Body size, ventricular geometry, and thoracoabdominal configuration may modulate key functional indices such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS). This [...] Read more.
Background: Pregnancy induces substantial cardiovascular remodeling, yet whether maternal cardiac adaptation differs across ethnic groups remains unclear. Body size, ventricular geometry, and thoracoabdominal configuration may modulate key functional indices such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS). This systematic review compared echocardiographic characteristics between Asian and Western healthy pregnant women in late gestation and explored physiological mechanisms underlying observed differences. Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE identified studies reporting transthoracic echocardiography in healthy singleton third-trimester pregnancies across Asian and Western populations. Extracted variables included anthropometry, ventricular dimensions and volumes, LVEF, and LV-GLS. Pooled estimates were calculated using inverse-variance weighting, with heterogeneity quantified using the I2 statistic. Study quality was assessed with the NIH Case–Control Quality Assessment Tool. Comparative forest plots visualized population differences. Results: Twenty studies involving 1431 participants (578 Asian and 853 Western women) met inclusion criteria. Asian women consistently exhibited smaller ventricular chambers, higher LVEF, and more favorable LV-GLS. Importantly, these differences persisted after indexing LV-GLS to BSA, indicating that body-size normalization attenuates—but does not eliminate—population differences in myocardial deformation. Western women demonstrated slightly attenuated GLS despite preserved LVEF, plausibly attributable to larger cardiac size, higher wall stress, greater diaphragmatic elevation, and increased extrinsic thoracic compression. Between-study heterogeneity was substantial (I2 > 95%) due to variation in imaging platforms, strain software, and population characteristics. Methodological quality was fair, with frequent lack of sample-size justification and incomplete confounder adjustment. Conclusions: Healthy Asian pregnant women display a hyperdynamic systolic phenotype, whereas Western women show a physiologically appropriate, load-related attenuation of LV-GLS with preserved LVEF. These findings highlight the need for ethnicity-associated and anatomy-aware echocardiographic reference values and support incorporating thoracic geometric indices, such as the modified Haller Index, into strain interpretation during pregnancy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Visualizing Cardiac Function: Advances in Modern Imaging Diagnostics)
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