MRI should be used more frequently for cardiovascular diagnosis in the U.S., say cardiologists

While MRI is prevalent for other medical issues and commonly used for cardiovascular diagnosis in Europe…it is not widely used for heart disease in the United States. The Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) is promoting awareness of the benefits for HeartMRI, and touting studies such as this study in the New England Journal of Medicine, which show MRI may be preferred in some cases when diagnosing heart disease. Further evidence supports the expanded utilization of stress CMR in evaluation of chest pain syndromes in the United States

• Chiara Bucciarelli-Ducci MD, PhD, FESC, FRCP, co-author of recent HeartMRI study and a distinguished author, speaker and expert in the field of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), can address the study's findings and its implications for doctors and patients with heart health concerns. She is CEO of SCMR. She says "Heart MRI is one test that can answer many questions for patients by helping physicians accurately identify the underlying causes of heart problems."
• Michael Salerno, MD, PhD, associate professor at the University of Virginia Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) board member, can address the benefits and risks of Heart MRI, how it compares to other imaging tests, and why the use of Heart MRIs is lower in the U.S. than other countries. He says "With Heart MRI's impressive diagnostic and prognostic capabilities, we anticipate it will play an even more prominent role in evaluating and treating patients in the future."
• Raymond Kwong, MD, MPH, Director, Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School can discuss his extensive research that shows stress CMR to be an effective modality in the real-world setting in detecting patients at high risk of cardiac events and that preliminary costs analyses suggest its use may potentially reduce costs of downstream cardiac testing. He says "Preliminary costs analyses suggest its use may potentially reduce costs of downstream cardiac testing. Our evidence supports the expanded utilization of stress CMR in evaluation of chest pain syndromes in the United States."