Cardiovascular imaging in global health radiology

There is a growing epidemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the developing world that continues to be increasingly deleterious to economic development in these settings. Imaging is a vital component of accurate diagnosis and appropriate triage of patients with CVD. Currently barriers to using imaging in low-resource settings include lack of equipment and appropriately trained personnel; fortunately, the versatility of ultrasound and other emerging technologies offers hope for providing increased access to necessary cardiovascular imaging. Improvement in local training will be critical with the concomitant expansion of imaging services to provide improved distribution channels for therapies.