Dobutamine stress magnetic resonance imaging.
Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) provides superior imaging of cardiac structure and function that makes it a useful tool in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. The heart's response to stress has long been used as a diagnostic aid for identifying a cardiovascular etiology for patient symptoms or for cardiovascular risk stratification. Historically, this has been done with stress nuclear scintigraphy or echocardiography techniques. A distinct advantage of CMR over these modalities is greater image quality resulting in better test characteristics; this review summarizes the techniques and principles involved in dobutamine stress MRI.
The Ohio State University, Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, 473 W. 12th Ave, 2nd floor, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Raman-1@medctr.osu.edu
Subha V
SV
Raman