Heart Failure Association Congress 2026 — Dr Philippe Debonnaire (AZ Sint Jan, Brugge, BE) and Professor Victoria Delgado (University Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, SP) discuss the expanding role of advanced cardiac imaging in heart failure diagnosis and management, and what a more personalised, multimodality approach means for clinical practice.

The conversation moves beyond foundational echocardiographic assessment to address the nuances of determining left ventricular filling pressures, the clinical utility of left atrial and global longitudinal strain, and the imaging red flags — including characteristic strain patterns in amyloidosis and apical hypertrophy — that should prompt escalation to CMR or SPECT. The experts also examine secondary mitral and tricuspid regurgitation, the emerging prognostic relevance of RV-PA coupling, and why strain imaging offers a more sensitive window into myocardial function than ejection fraction alone.

Looking ahead, Professor Delgado reflects on the anticipated 2026 heart failure guidelines and the potential for multimodality imaging to reframe heart failure from a syndrome into a set of specific, treatable etiologies. The discussion closes with an assessment of artificial intelligence — its promise for reducing reporting burden, improving reproducibility, and serving as a safeguard against missed pathology in high-volume clinical environments.

Recorded on-site at Heart Failure Association Congress 2026, Barcelona.

Editors: Jordan Rance
Videographer: David Ben-Harosh
Support: This is an independent interview produced by Radcliffe Cardiology.