Real-time magnetic resonance imaging of cardiac function and flow—Recent progress

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries (1). Relevant noninvasive diagnostic imaging techniques, which range from echocardiography to X-ray computed tomography, face a most demanding situation due to the need for both high spatial and high temporal resolution. In the past two decades magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been established a valuable new tool for studying cardiovascular disease which provides access to anatomic structure and function, blood flow, tissue perfusion and viability (2,3). Cardiovascular MRI is therefore included in national and international guidelines for the clinical evaluation of congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathies, myocardial viability or myocarditis, e.g., see (4,5)