A substantial portion of all myocardial infarctions are not clinically recognized, but the myocardial damage can be recognized afterwards e g by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study includes patients with stable coronary artery disease without previously known myocardial infarction, and investigates the prevalence of clinically unrecognised myocardial damage (UMI), and the prognostic value of UMI regarding new cardiac events.~In a subset of the patients, the biologic intra-individual variability of troponin and other biochemical markers will be investigated (substudy protocol).
This study includes patients with stable coronary artery disease without previously known myocardial infarction, and investigates the prevalence of clinically unrecognized myocardial damage and its prognostic implication.