CV Imaging of Metabolic Interventions

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. It is becoming clearer that heart failure (HF) is closely associated with body's metabolism. Even before the heart becomes weaker, it responds to the stresses by changing the fuels it burns, which results in a reduction in the heart's metabolic efficiency that worsens the heart's condition. Since the heart burns so much fuel and consumes fats and carbohydrates along with other available substrates, any changes in its metabolic efficiency could impact metabolism throughout the body. Specifically, HF is characterized by limited flexibility in substrate utilization leading to an overall energetic deficit. Such energetic deficit is associated with progressive remodeling and alter cardiac hemodynamics. For example, obesity is a widely known risk factor for cardiovascular disease likely lie in how the heart handles energy (substra