Review of the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in congenital heart disease, with a focus on right ventricle assessment.

Adult patients with congenital heart disease (ACHD) represent a growing population due to progress in management. Surgical procedures generally fall short of restoring entirely normal anatomical and functional relations. Further procedures can be needed and lifelong follow-up is required. The right ventricle (RV) plays an important role in congenital heart disease and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging has become the imaging method of choice for its assessment. CMR can provide relatively accurate measurements of RV volume and function, and arterial flow, with additional anatomical information provided by three-dimensional contrast angiography and late gadolinium imaging of fibrosis. Here we focus our review on three categories of ACHD in which evaluation of the RV is important: repaired tetralogy of Fallot, the systemic RV and Ebstein anomaly. We demonstrate how CMR contributes to decision-making regarding the types and timings of interventions. A dedicated CMR service should be regarded as a necessary facility of a centre specializing in the care of ACHD patients.