Diagnostic assessment of the heart after infarction: What is the role of magnetic resonance imaging?

There have been considerable advances in the diagnostic assessment of the h eart by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in recent years. Thus MRI as a one -stop shop modality for the comprehensive noninvasive evaluation of coronar y heart disease and myocardial infarction may soon become a reality. This a rticle presents an overview of the present possibilities and future potenti al of evaluating myocardial anatomy, function, perfusion, and coronary anat omy after myocardial infarction. Cine MRI provides a reliable analysis of r egional and global disturbances of cardiac wall motion with a high temporal and spatial resolution. Tagging techniques permit the noninvasive labellin g of parts of the myocardium and the identification of three-dimensional pa tterns of contraction. Myocardial perfusion and disturbed wall motion under pharmacologic stress can be reliably assessed by MRI as well. What is uniq ue is the visualization of myocardial edema, which is made possible by the high soft-tissue contrast resolution. The as yet limited potential to asses s coronary arteries and coronary bypasses is likewise discussed.