The emerging role of MRI in the diagnosis and management of cardiomyopathies.

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has emerged as an important tool for the evaluation of cardiomyopathies, providing highly accurate information on the macroscopic changes of cardiac morphology, function, and tissue composition. For myocardial tissue characterization, the technique of myocardial delayed enhancement is a potentially promising tool for diagnosis, management, and prognosis. Several CMR approaches are now available to better diagnose and prognosticate dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular disease, myocarditis, and other cardiomyopathies.