Mount Sinai Heart's Cardiovascular Imaging Center features the newest and most advanced diagnostic equipment available. Our doctors are unmatched experts at performing and interpreting imaging tests.

"Technology is revolutionizing the way we practice cardiology," says Mario J. Garcia, MD, Professor of Radiology and Cardiology and Director of Noninvasive Cardiology. "Not long ago, we lacked a simple and noninvasive way to detect cardiovascular problems at early stages. Now, we have the tools to be proactive."

Mount Sinai Heart is a pioneer in cardiovascular imaging. In a worldwide first, our physician scientists have developed a way to combine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron electron tomography (PET) in one machine. Using the technologies together helps detect disease earlier, when it's more likely to be treatable.

"This technique is helping us track and pinpoint plaque formation, and that leads to earlier detection, earlier diagnosis, and better treatments," says Zahi A. Fayad, PhD, Professor of Radiology and Cardiology and Interim Director of the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute.

Program for Diagnostic and Preventive Medicine

Mount Sinai Heart offers the most complete health assessment in the New York metropolitan area. Patients who participate in our Program for Diagnostic and Preventive Medicine spend a full day at the hospital. While here, they receive complete assessments of their heart, lungs, and other organs. The aim is to detect disease in its most treatable stages, before symptoms appear.

"This program gives people access to some of the best resources at Mount Sinai," says Jonathan L. Halperin, MD, Professor of Cardiology and Director of Clinical Cardiology Services. "It is the most comprehensive, single-day health assessment people can find, right here in New York City."

The program offers a high level of personalized service. A concierge greets arriving patients. A program coordinator schedules all tests and escorts patients from one to the next. State-of-the-art imaging technology provides a detailed assessment of every body system. All results are available for review and analysis by coordinating physicians that same day.

Program Features

"Patients receive full-body surveillance for all sorts of disease, but the focus is very much on the heart because heart disease remains the leading cause of death," says Dr. Halperin. "By using high-resolution technologies for imaging, we can identify very early stages of disease."

The program includes:

• Complete medical history and physical exam
• Full-spectrum blood and urine tests
• Cardiovascular assessment
• Pulmonary assessment
• Gastrointestinal evaluation
• Evaluation of the urinary system and reproductive organs
• Endocrine evaluation
• Mammography and pelvic exam
• Neuromuscular and skeletal exam
• Vision and hearing exam
• Dermatological exam

At the end of the day, patients meet with the coordinating physician to go over their test results. They take home a dossier with reports, images, and recommendations to review with their personal physician. The program can be customized to meet a patient's specific needs.

The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program

Heart disease does not usually develop suddenly. From a very early age, blood vessels are compromised by such factors as high blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation. Unhealthy behaviors, for instance smoking, poor diet, or lack of exercise, compound the danger. People enrolled in the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program learn how to modify their behavior to stave off illness.

"Heart health is a way of life," says Mario J. Garcia, MD, Professor of Radiology and Cardiology and Director of Noninvasive Cardiology. "It is much more comprehensive than just taking drugs, diet alone, or just exercising."

"The smallest decisions we make every day, what to eat for lunch or whether to take the stairs instead of the elevator, affect our heart disease risk," agrees Kevin G. Dunsky, MD, Associate Professor of Cardiology and Associate Director of Quality Assurance for Mount Sinai Heart.

Program Features

The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program is designed for people at risk of heart disease, who have evidence of heart disease, or who have already experienced a cardiac event, such as heart attack or stroke. Because the majority of people with heart disease do not realize they have it, the program is open to anyone interested.

Program features include:

• Behavioral risk assessment
• Medical risk assessment
• Comprehensive treatment plan
• Lifestyle modification

Hypertension Program

The relentless assault of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, on blood vessels can damage the vessels’ lining, causing them to weaken and thicken. High blood pressure is an almost certain precursor for a series of problems, such as poor memory, eye disease, kidney disease, aneurysms, heart attack, and stroke.

"Treatment of hypertension is profoundly important in maintaining health," says Bruce Darrow, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cardiology. "A patient with high blood pressure will usually feel the same as one with low or normal blood pressure. But if it is left untreated, hypertension will lead to not just heart attacks, but difficulties with heart function, kidney problems, and stroke."

Mount Sinai Heart cardiologists have vast experience investigating both common and rare causes for high blood pressure. Our Hypertension Program educates patients about healthy food choices, weight control, and physical activity. Changes in behavior, combined with the right medication, can make an enormous difference in blood pressure.

Mount Sinai Heart conducts a personalized approach for each hypertension patient. "We have a definitive therapeutic approach to managing patients with different ethnic backgrounds, particularly African Americans and Asians, who have different risk factors and responses to treatments," says Jonathan L. Halperin, MD, Professor of Cardiology and Director of Clinical Cardiology Services.

Pulmonary Hypertension Program

This comprehensive program offers premier service to patients diagnosed with high blood pressure in the vessels of the lungs, a condition called pulmonary hypertension. Leading cardiologists and pulmonologists join nurses, social workers, and nutritionists to help patients maintain a proper diet and activity level.

High-Risk Plaque Initiative

Plaque is a deposit of fatty materials that can narrow or block arteries. If plaques become unstable or rupture, life-threatening blood clots can form and cause heart attack or stroke. The High-Risk Plaque Initiative uses state-of-the-art imaging techniques to identify people at risk for plaque buildup before a catastrophic event occurs.

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Professor of Cardiology and Director of Mount Sinai Heart, co-leads the High-Risk Plaque initiative. Dr. Fuster works with many of the world's most prominent scientists in the field of cardiovascular disease, radiology, and other medical disciplines. Under Dr. Fuster's leadership, for the first time ever, mobile multi-purpose imaging units are being used to screen 7,300 men and women in three U.S. cities: Chicago, Louisville, and Miami. All patients enrolled in the study have at least one risk factor for heart disease.

Some of these patients will be screened in the mobile units with only ultrasound and standard computed tomography (CT) scans. Others will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), while still others will receive positron emission technology (PET)/CT scans. The remaining patients will serve as the control group and will not undergo imaging.

"Mount Sinai is leveraging its vast imaging and diagnostic expertise across a very large at-risk population," says Zahi A. Fayad, PhD, Professor of Radiology and Cardiology and Interim Director of the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute. "The data on prevention and screening have been lacking, but we're going to change that."