Nuclear magnetic resonance: a new method for non-invasive assessment of cardiac metabolism.

In the setting of cardiac testing, NMR spectroscopy should occupy a major place since it allows a noninvasive serial assessment of the biochemical status of a functioning heart and could be coupled with other investigations to provide simultaneous recordings of both metabolic and functional data from a definite myocardial area. In the future, NMR imaging may become a clinically viable tool providing localized non-invasive biochemical measurements in the heart.