Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

Cardiac MRI (sometimes called CMR) is an infrequently used modality in the evaluation of heart disease. It's mostly used for the evaluation of myocardium, either in case of myocarditis or evaluation of complications of acute myocardial infarction. It can measure ejection fraction and volume of the myocardium, among other parametres.

Cardiac MRI can be “coupled” to an ECG so that it only takes pictures during the same part of the cardiac cycle. This reduces noise made from movement of the heart.

When used to evaluate the complications of acute myocardial infarction, infarcted or scarred myocardium will show “delayed” or “late” enhancement with gadolinium contrast.