Cardiovascular risk assessment – new tools and imaging techniques

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death and disability across the world. In recent decades, the battle against CVD has focused on prevention, with the management of lifetime cardiovascular (CV) risk superseding treatment of individual cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. Such a strategy in turn is anchored in two complementary approaches – a population-based one promoting community health (e.g. anti-smoking campaigns, diet and nutritional management) and a clinical approach targeted at high-risk individuals.

Complexity of risk factors
In spite of this, CVD management remains less than optimal – even in countries with advanced and well-funded healthcare systems. In 2007, the authors of an article in the