Imaging in Women with Heart Failure: Sex-specific Characteristics and Current Challenges

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a significant threat to women’s health. Heart failure (HF) is one CVD that still has an increasing incidence and about half of all cases involve women. HF is characterised by strong sex-specific features in aetiology, clinical manifestation and outcomes. Women are more likely to have hypertensive heart disease and HF with preserved ejection fraction, they experience worse quality of life but have a better overall survival rate. Women’s hearts also have unique morphological characteristics that should be considered during cardiovascular assessment. It is important to understand and highlight these sex-specific features to be able to provide a tailored diagnostic approach and therapeutic management. The aim of this article is to review these aspects together with the challenges and the unique characteristics of different imaging modalities used for the diagnosis and follow-up of women with HF.