Metabolic imaging in the metabolic syndrome

The metabolic syndrome is associated with a well known increased risk of coronary disease, but the syndrome or its components are also associated with adverse cardiac remodeling and decreased function [1,2]. Changes in myocardial substrate preference, efficiency, and energetics probably contribute to cardiac remodeling and dysfunction [3-5]. The focus of this review is on noninvasive imaging techniques and the insights they have provided on myocardial metabolism and the pathogenesis of noncoronary heart disease associated with the metabolic syndrome.