Assessment of pulmonary hypertension by CT and MR imaging

In the recent World Health Organization (WHO) classification the group of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PH) comprises the classic primary pulmonary hypertension and several conditions with definite or very high risk factors to develop pulmonary arterial hypertension. Therapeutic advances drive the need for a comprehensive pre-therapeutic evaluation for optimal treatment. Furthermore, follow-up examinations need to be performed to monitor changes in disease status and response to therapy. Up to now, the diagnostic imaging work-up of PH comprises mainly echocardiography, invasive right heart catheterization and ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy. Due to technical advances helical computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) became more important in the evaluation and for differential diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Both modalities are reviewed and recommendations for clinical use are given.