Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging is an outstanding book created by the contribution of international authors from different disciplines. Each area of cardiac MRI is explained by its technical basis, cardiac physiology, clinical validation, and prognostic implication. The book is divided into three parts: technical aspects, clinical role of MRI, and research applications. The chapters dealing with basic cardiac MRI sequences are particularly didactic and provide accurate explanation about the physical basis for the different pulse sequence by means of clear and elucidative diagrams and schemes. The chapter dealing with the cardiac anatomy, which is supported by images presented in the most commonly used imaging planes, can be very useful to those who are unfamiliar with the heart tomographic imaging. In the second part of the book, each one of the most common clinical scenarios that are encountered in a cardiac MRI suite is discussed in its related chapter. In particular, the chapters focusing on ischemic heart disease, valvular, and pericardial diseases provide useful information for the daily practice; furthermore, in the chapters dealing with congenital heart disease explained in depth is the pathology and introduced are concepts about the most common treatment options and follow-up MRI examination. Practitioners of MRI will also appreciate the chapter about nuclear medicine imaging, discussing its past and current applications. Most of the chapters dealing with a specific heart disease describe it in terms of clinical course, imaging protocol, typical MRI findings, and management of the patient. The cases are presented by means of high-quality images that, with only a few exceptions, have been obtained with last-generation scanners and are completed by various cine movies that can be found in the companion DVD. Each of the 32 chapters contains a large number of up-to-date references suggesting the most pertinent articles in the medical literature dealing with the topic discussed. The last part of the book is dedicated to the fascinating world of MRI research application and its future direction, focusing on imaging of atherothrombosis, molecular imaging, spectroscopy, and interventional MRI, introducing the most relevant and recent advances in the field of cardiovascular MRI.