What are the benefits of CMR in the diagnosis of CAD?
CMR offers several benefits in the diagnosis of CAD. It is able to accurately assess abnormal myocardial physiology of CAD by combining imaging of rest and stress ventricular function, perfusion, and myocardial viability. CMR imaging at 3.0T field strength has improved image quality compared to 1.5T and has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy in detecting CAD. Additionally, with rapid data acquisition by parallel imaging, real-time cine, or sub-second single-shot imaging methods, a diagnostically adequate CMR can be obtained without the need for patient breath-holding or ECG gating, allowing for a routine CMR assessment of CAD to be achieved in under 30 minutes.  