The environmental effects of non-invasive cardiac imaging

Abstract

The healthcare sector is a major contributor to the universal climate footprint, of this a significant proportion is attributable to medical imaging and further to dedicated cardiac imaging. The increasing availability and utility of cardiac imaging techniques for prognosis, diagnosis and management raises concerns for the impact of these investigations on the environment.

Our objective was to review the published literature assessing the environmental impact of non-invasive imaging modalities within cardiology, subsequently helping guide physicians toward a more sustainable approach to cardiac imaging and improved awareness of the environmental impact of healthcare within this field.

We conducted a systematic review of studies measuring the environmental impact of non-invasive cardiac imaging. A total of 8 studies were included in the final analysis.

Cardiac imaging has a significant environmental impact, which varies by modality: lowest for echocardiography and highest for MRI. As a whole this field represents a significant contributor to climate-related threats to human health, which we should strive toward harm minimisation. This may be mitigated through the conscious utilisation of energy consumption and contrast media, as well as healthcare worker education and quality improvement to guide imaging choice based on environmental impact alongside conventional determinants such as patient characteristics, clinical guidelines and cost (visual abstract).