Role of MR imaging in acquired and congenital cardiovascular disease

The use of MR imaging for noninvasive cardiac diagnosis is still limited because clinicians currently rely on echocardiography and nuclear scintigraphy. Because of the development of MR techniques that can be used to evaluate contractile function and blood flow as well as cardiac morphology, greater applications of MR imaging are now likely to occur. Such a multifaceted use of MR imaging for the evaluation of cardiovascular disease should be encouraged by the continued development of fast imaging techniques. The purpose of this review is to describe the current clinical applications of MR imaging in acquired and congenital heart disease. The widespread use of MR imaging for cardiovascular diagnosis ultimately depends on its suitability as a comprehensive noninvasive imaging technique for ischemic heart disease and as a replacement for cardiac catheterization in congenital heart disease.