Although new therapies exist that can reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke by as much as 80 percent, cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death for both men and women.

Under the direction of Daniel Berman, MD, the Cardiac Imaging Research Team (CIRT) has established a worldwide reputation as a leader in investigating powerful new methods of detecting, evaluating and treating heart disease.

Research programs that have made this success possible include the Nuclear Cardiology Outcomes Database and The Eisner Heart Watch Program.

For more than 15 years, CIRT has been collecting what is now the world's largest database of information from patients who have undergone nuclear cardiology studies. Using this database, CIRT has performed analyses that have shaped the way physicians around the world use nuclear cardiology testing to guide patient management, including:

• Properly selecting patients for angioplasty or bypass surgery
• Reducing unnecessary invasive procedures

Supported by a generous grant from The Eisner Foundation, this program investigates the usefulness of coronary calcium screening for early detection and management of atherosclerosis.

Through research programs like these, CIRT has contributed to significant changes in the clinical applications of noninvasive cardiac imaging resulting in:

• More accurate methods for determining risk for developing coronary artery disease by using noninvasive test results in combination with traditional risk factors
• Early identification of disease, allowing patients to address problems before they strike
• Justification for third-party reimbursement of scan costs