The Role of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in the Evaluation of Patients Presenting with Suspected or Confirmed Acute Coronary Syndrome
Figure 3
CMR imaging after acute MI. The tissue characterization abilities of CMR are demonstrated in these frames, all of which were taken from a patient who presented late after an ST elevation MI. A 4-chamber cine steady-state free precession (SSFP) image is shown in (a). Prior to contrast, it is difficult to discern whether there is thrombus in the apex. A postcontrast 4-chamber SSFP image (b) provides greater contrast between the slightly enhancing myocardium and nonenhancing thrombus at the apex. This difference is even more clear with late gadolinium-enhanced (LGE) imaging (c)-(d), which clearly demonstrates the black thrombus at the apex adjacent to the transmural apical infarct seen in white. An apical short axis view (d) reveals an extensive infarct with an area of microvascular obstruction visualized in the septum (arrow).
