Left ventricular apex visualization: the value of magnetic resonance imaging.

Ventricular apex visualization is crucial to the evaluation of left ventricular structure and function. Not only is it necessary for accurate ejection fraction calculations; but the apex is also the segment most vulnerable to myocardial infarction, infarct expansion, aneurysm, and mural thrombi. While echocardiography is often unsuccessful, particularly in the large body habitus, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging assured apex visualization in both short and long axis planes in our series of 20 consecutive patients across a wide range of age and body habitus. Magnetic resonance imaging is an important additional tool for the accurate assessment of the left ventricle, particularly in apical disease and in patients with a large body habitus, and consequently a technically difficult echocardiogram.