MR imaging of cardiomyopathy.

Spin echo and cine MR imaging provides reliable and reproducible quantitative information about the hearts of patients with cardiomyopathy. In particular, these techniques are useful in demonstrating the severity and distribution of left and right ventricular myocardial thickness, changes in myocardial thickness during ventricular contraction, ventricular chamber volume, and change in volume through the cardiac cycle. Furthermore, direct examination of the ventricular myocardium by spin echo MR imaging is beginning to demonstrate its utility in characterizing abnormal myocardium and in providing inferential information concerning the nature of the myocardial abnormality itself. MR examination is also useful in excluding other causes of myocardial dysfunction that mimic cardiomyopathy as well as in helping define the type of cardiomyopathy, both of which allow better clinical management of these patients.