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World J Cardiol. Feb 26, 2017; 9(2): 92-108
Published online Feb 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i2.92
Assessment of stable coronary artery disease by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging: Current and emerging techniques
James R J Foley, Sven Plein, John P Greenwood
James R J Foley, Sven Plein, John P Greenwood, Multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Centre and Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All the authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: John P Greenwood, Professor, Multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Centre and Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. j.greenwood@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-113-3925398 Fax: +44-113-3926022
Received: July 14, 2016
Peer-review started: July 16, 2016
First decision: September 2, 2016
Revised: October 27, 2016
Accepted: December 1, 2016
Article in press: December 3, 2016
Published online: February 26, 2017
Processing time: 223 Days and 17.4 Hours
Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is established in clinical practice guidelines with a growing evidence base supporting its use to aid the diagnosis and management of patients with suspected or established CAD. CMR is a multi-parametric imaging modality that yields high spatial resolution images that can be acquired in any plane for the assessment of global and regional cardiac function, myocardial perfusion and viability, tissue characterisation and coronary artery anatomy, all within a single study protocol and without exposure to ionising radiation. Advances in technology and acquisition techniques continue to progress the utility of CMR across a wide spectrum of cardiovascular disease, and the publication of large scale clinical trials continues to strengthen the role of CMR in daily cardiology practice. This article aims to review current practice and explore the future directions of multi-parametric CMR imaging in the investigation of stable CAD.

Keywords: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance; Coronary heart disease; Myocardial perfusion; Viability; Prognosis

Core tip: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is established in clinical practice guidelines with a growing evidence base supporting its use to aid diagnosis and management of patients with suspected or established CAD. CMR is a multi-parametric imaging modality that yields high spatial resolution images that can be acquired in any plane for assessment of global and regional cardiac function, myocardial perfusion and viability, tissue characterisation and coronary artery anatomy, all within a single study protocol and without exposure to ionising radiation.