Ischemic heart disease: a comprehensive evaluation using cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance is becoming an important imaging modality in clinical cardiology. As an exceptionally accurate and comprehensive diagnostic tool, cardiovascular magnetic resonance is becoming the first-choice modality for imaging the heart and great vessels. Stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging enables the detection of hemodynamically significant coronary artery lesions and the choice of treatment strategy when stenosis is intermediate. Viability assessment is very important as it allows differentiating between dysfunctional but still viable myocardium and predicts the recovery of ventricular function after successful revascularization. However, the availability and costs of cardiovascular magnetic resonance remain the major obstacle and makes the investigation unachievable to many patients.