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Clinical CMR - the new imaging paradigm

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming 900,000 lives a year. MRI is currently the only imaging technology available that can provide a comprehensive examination to effectively and efficiently detect the impact of CAD on the functional capabilities of the heart.

Cardiac MR (CMR) is a proven tool for the evaluation of coronary artery disease, and its multi-procedure characteristic makes it an invaluable tool to assist a cardiologist in conducting a comprehensive cardiac examination.

Numerous studies internationally have shown CMR to be fast and highly accurate in diagnosing CAD. Evaluating prior literature, significant research data are available on the performance of CMR in detecting CAD. Study results have demonstrated high sensitivity (few false negatives) and specificity (few false positives.) The extremely positive results of these CMR studies are due to the continually improving image quality and the capability of CMR to rapidly provide cardiac diagnostic data from multiple procedures during the same imaging session.

These three CMR procedures (1) stress wall motion, (2) stress blood flow, and (3) the detection of myocardial infarcts are particularly effective in detecting CAD.