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Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in the Emergency Department to Evaluate Patients for Possible Acute Coronary Syndrome

  • Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (E Nagel, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The use of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging has recently been demonstrated to be a useful adjunct in the evaluation of emergency department (ED) patients with acute chest pain. This modality allows the assessment of non-ischemic causes of chest pain, early ischemic changes (T2-weighted imaging for edema), resting and stress perfusion abnormalities, resting and stress wall motion abnormalities, and assessment for scar formation with delayed enhancement. This comprehensive information appears most useful when evaluating higher complexity patients such as those at intermediate or high risk for ACS. In these more complex patients, the use of CMR is supported by appropriateness criteria, and in recent studies appears to be a cost-effective alternative to inpatient evaluation when combined with observation unit care.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Acknowledgments

Funded in part by the Translational Science Institute of Wake Forest University School of Medicine; NIH grants 1 R21 HL097131-01A1 (Miller), 1 RO1 HL076438 (Hundley), and 1 R33 CA12196 (Hundley); and American Heart Association grant 0980008 N (Miller).

Disclosure

C. D. Miller: consultant to Breathquant Medical, LLC and Deep Breeze, research support from Siemens, and lecture support from Sanofi-Aventis; W. G. Hundley: consultant to Prova Images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Chadwick D. Miller

  2. Department of Internal Medicine (Section on Cardiology), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    W. Gregory Hundley

  3. Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    W. Gregory Hundley

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  1. Chadwick D. Miller
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  2. W. Gregory Hundley
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Correspondence to Chadwick D. Miller or W. Gregory Hundley.

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Miller, C.D., Hundley, W.G. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in the Emergency Department to Evaluate Patients for Possible Acute Coronary Syndrome. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 5, 92–98 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-012-9123-y

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