The Role of Cardiovascular MRI in Heart Failure and the Cardiomyopathies
Heart failure (HF) is a common syndrome related to varied pathophysiologic processes. Individualization of care according to the patient's pathologic and modifiable substrate is of increasing importance. The use of modern cardiovascular MRI (CMR) provides for the centralization of diagnostic testing with the ability to assess cardiac morphology, function, flow, perfusion, acute tissue injury, and fibrosis in a single setting. This offers the potential for a paradigm shift in the noninvasive diagnosis and monitoring of patients with HF. This article outlines a diagnostic approach for the primary use of CMR in the phenotypic characterization, risk stratification, and therapeutic management of patients with HF.
aDepartment of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, Suite 2, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B8
bLondon Health Sciences Center, 800 Commissioners Road East, PO Box 5010, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5W9
cDepartment of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Duke University Medical Center 3934, Durham, NC 27710, USA
Corresponding author.
This article originally published in the Cardiology Clinics, February 2007. p. 71–95.
ABSTRACT