Advanced cardiac MR imaging of ischemic heart disease

Important advances in rapid magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technology and its application to cardiovascular imaging have been made during the past de cade. High-field-strength clinical magnets, high-performance gradient hardw are, and ultrafast pulse sequence technology are rapidly making the vision of a comprehensive "one-stop shop" cardiac MR imaging examination a reality . This examination is poised to have a significant effect on the management of coronary artery disease by means of assessment of wall motion with tagg ing and pharmacologic stress testing, evaluation of the coronary microvascu lature with perfusion imaging, and direct visualization of the coronary art eries with MR coronary angiography. This article reviews current state-of-t he-art pulse sequence technology and its application to the evaluation of i schemic heart disease by means of MR tagging with dobutamine stress testing , MR perfusion imaging, and MR coronary angiography. Cutting edge areas of research in coil design and exciting new areas of metabolic and oxygen leve l-dependent imaging are also explored.