Coronary artery disease: Comprehensive evaluation by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging has emerged as an important non-invasive cardiac imaging modality. A versatile technique, it has the potential for comprehensive evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD): cardiac morphology and function, myocardial perfusion, myocardial viability, coronary artery visualisation and atherosclerotic plaque characterisation. Some of these techniques - ventricular function and myocardial viability assessment - have already made mainstream clinical impact. Other techniques have yielded promising initial results, and will become increasingly accepted with technical refinement in scanner hardware and software. This article reviews the current status of clinical CMR imaging for diagnosis of CAD.