Cardiac MR for the assessment of myocardial viability.

This article focuses on delayed contrast enhanced MRI (DE-MRI) to assess myocardial viability. We start by discussing previous literature that evaluated the potential importance of myocardial viability testing and follow up with the more recent Surgical Treatment for Heart Disease Trial (STICH) trial results. We then provide an overview of the basic concepts and technical aspects of the current DE-MRI technique and review the initial studies demonstrating that DE-MRI before coronary revascularization can predict functional improvement. Finally, we use DE-MRI as a paradigm to discuss physiological insights into viability assessment and examine common assumptions in the metrics used to evaluate viability techniques.