MR evaluation of cardiac and pericardial malignancy.

The accurate evaluation of cardiac masses by MR imaging was established in the infancy of cardiac MR imaging. From its advent, MR imaging was believed to be diagnostically superior to echocardiography in the evaluation of suspected cardiac masses. Though excellent in its assessment of the left side of the heart, echocardiography is limited in its evaluation of the right heart, mediastinum, and paracardiac structures. It is also of limited use in patients with emphysema and chest wall deformities. With the advent of ECG gating, MR imaging's ability to assess the presence and anatomy of cardiac and paracardiac masses was well established by a number of studies. This research also demonstrated MR imaging's capacity to exclude a cardiac mass when the echocardiogram was equivocal.