Cardiac MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a safe, noninvasive test that creates detailed pictures of your organs and tissues. MRI uses radio waves, magnets, and a computer to create pictures of your organs and tissues. Unlike CT scans and standard x-rays, MRI doesn’t use ionizing radiation or carry any risk of causing cancer.
Cardiac MRI creates pictures of your heart as it is beating, producing both still and moving pictures of your heart and major blood vessels. Doctors use cardiac MRI to get pictures of the beating heart and to look at its structure and function. These pictures can help them decide how to treat people who have heart problems.
Cardiac MRI is a common test. It’s used to diagnose and evaluate a number of diseases and conditions, including damage caused by a heart attack, heart failure, heart valve problems, congenital heart defects, pericarditis (a condition in which the membrane, or sac, around your heart is inflamed), and cardiac tumors.
Cardiac MRI can help explain results from other tests, such as x-rays and CT scans. Sometimes, cardiac MRI is used to avoid the need for invasive procedures or tests that use radiation (such as x-rays) or dyes containing iodine (these dyes may be harmful to people who have kidney problems).
Often during cardiac MRI, a contrast agent is injected into a vein to highlight portions of the heart or blood vessels. This contrast agent often is used for people who are allergic to the dyes used in CT scanning. People who have severe kidney or liver problems may not be able to have the contrast agent.
You’ll be asked to fill out a screening form before having cardiac MRI. The form may ask whether you have had previous surgeries, have any metal objects in your body, or have any medical devices (like a cardiac pacemaker) surgically implanted in your body.
Most, but not all, implanted medical devices are allowed near the MRI machine. Talk to your doctor or the technician operating the machine if you have concerns about any implanted devices or conditions that may interfere with the MRI.
MRI can seriously affect some types of implanted medical devices: Implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators can malfunction, cochlear (inner-ear) implants can be damaged, and brain aneurysm clips can move due to MRI’s strong magnetic field.
Tell your doctor if being in a fairly tight or confined space causes you anxiety or fear (claustrophobia). Your doctor might give you medicine to help you relax. Your doctor may ask you to fast for 6 hours before you take this medicine on the day of the test.