Cardiac magnetic resonance for mitral regurgitation diagnosis: When is it needed?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Mitral regurgitation is a growing public concern affecting a large number of individuals in the United States. Although echocardiography is the primary imaging modality for assessment of mitral regurgitation, it may be inadequate or suboptimal for a variety of reasons. In these instances, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) may be useful. RECENT FINDINGS: The diagnostic capabilities of CMR have increased substantially over the past 20 years due to hardware and software advances. Today, CMR is useful in providing clinicians with a number of important pieces of information in the assessment of mitral regurgitation. It has emerged as a robust modality to quantify mitral regurgitation severity. In addition, it is able to provide insights into the mechanism of mitral regurgitation and also to help discern the consequences of the regurgitant lesion on left ventricular performance. SUMMARY: CMR has a number of unique advantages over other imaging modalities as there are no issues of image quality from inadequate imaging windows or body habitus. In most instances, information can be obtained noninvasively, without the need for intravenous contrast agents or ionizing radiation.