What Is Cardiac MRI?
MRI uses large magnets and radio-frequency waves to produce high-quality still and moving pictures of the body’s internal structures; no X-ray exposure is involved. The scan monitors energy changes in tissues reacting to magnetic forces. A computer analyzes these changes and creates a composite image of the tissues. The images can be shown in two or three spatial dimensions in either static or dynamic cine mode. MRI is especially useful for evaluating the cardiovascular system. In addition to being non-invasive (not requiring an incision) and risk-free, MRI can image a large portion of the body, such as the chest, in one session. Because MRI acquires information about the heart as it is beating; it can create moving images of the heart throughout its pumping cycle. This allows MRI to display abnormalities in cardiac chamber contraction and to show abnormal patterns of blood flow in the heart and great vessels. Using MRI, physicians can obtain images of the chest and cardiovascular syst
