Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has become integrated into the routine care of individuals with congenital heart disease. Its strengths and limitations are being refined and CMR derived variables predictive of clinically important outcomes are being evaluated. This manuscript will focus on several congenital heart diseases commonly referred for CMR evaluation and review their clinical aspects, goals of the MRI evaluation, imaging protocol and current literature.

With an escalating health burden from coronary artery disease (CAD), both as a public health and fiscal issue, evaluation of patients with (CAD) remains an important challenge. With advances in therapy our management options have increased, coinciding with a shift away from treatment alone, to disease prevention and accurate risk stratification. Imaging techniques play an important role in guiding management. Recent advances in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) enable a detailed non-invasive assessment of patients with a combination of anatomical and functional data to assess the impact of CAD in individual patients. The range of sequences means that myocardial perfusion, viability, coronary angiography and plaque characterization are available in a single study. Outcome data have helped with disease prognostication. In this review, we discuss current and future applications of CMR and consider which patients would benefit from a scan.

Cardiomyopathies (CMPs) are diseases of the myocardium, characterized by distinct morphological, electrophysiological and functional alterations of the heart. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) offers distinct advantages over other imaging tests in the diagnosis and management of CMPs. This is primarily due to its ability to characterize the tissue abnormalities and demonstrate the functional alterations, all as part of a single examination. This review discusses the role of CMR, including the protocol, techniques and imaging features in the various CMPs. It also highlights the important role that CMR plays in the clinical decision making and follow-up of these patients.

Valvular heart disease is an important clinical diagnosis throughout the world and prompt recognition of moderate and severe valvular abnormalities is an important public health goal. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is a well-established noninvasive technique that allows for a comprehensive assessment of valvular heart disease. In this article, the basics of CMR application in valvular heart disease are reviewed. Essential CMR techniques, including black-blood imaging, cine steady-state free precession and flow velocity mapping are discussed, as applied to specific valvular lesions. In addition, concrete protocols for imaging in various clinical situations are suggested.

Diseases of the pericardium are an uncommon but important group of diseases in cardiology with several different pathologies. The current mainstay of cardiac imaging, echocardiography has some limitations in visualizing pericardial and mediastinal disease. Recent improvement in cardiac MRI allows new insight into imaging the pericardium and the pericardial space. This article describes different pathologies, including pericardial constriction, masses and congenital absence of the pericardium. CMR protocols and techniques are discussed including the use of different sequences, along with the use of contrast media and real time imaging for ventricular:ventricular interaction. The role of CMR is placed in context with other imaging modalities.