Evaluation of Cardiac, Vascular, and Skeletal Muscle Function With MRI: Novel Physiological End Points in Cardiac Rehabilitation Research.

Impaired exercise tolerance is a major determinant of decreased quality of life and survival in individuals with cardiovascular disease. The relative contribution that abnormal cardiac, vascular, and skeletal muscle function plays in limiting exercise tolerance and its improvement with exercise training in patients with cardiovascular disease is not fully known. In this review, we provide an overview of the functional impairment of these systems as they relate to exercise capacity and the emerging role of magnetic resonance imaging as a comprehensive tool to evaluate mechanisms that may explain exercise intolerance.