When to Use Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Patients with Heart Failure.

Use of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) to aid in diagnosis, management, and prognosis of ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy has advanced tremendously in the past several decades. These advances have expanded our understanding of both ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathies while also allowing for new avenues of diagnosis and treatment. This review summarizes key concepts of CMR technology and CMR use in the diagnosis and prognosis in ischemic, infiltrative, inflammatory, and other nonischemic cardiomyopathies and discusses the use of CMR in the patient presenting with ventricular arrhythmia with unclear diagnosis and advances in CMR in the management cardiomyopathy.

Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy: Incidental diagnosis after ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy is a rare congenital cardiomyopathy, which usually presents early in life but may also manifest into adulthood. We present the case of an elderly woman with left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy, which was discovered incidentally following an ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction in apical ballooning syndrome (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy).

Patients with apical ballooning syndrome may develop dynamic left ventricular outflow obstruction due to systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve leaflet and secondary functional mitral regurgitation, causing decreased cardiac output and hypotension. If suspected, bedside echocardiography will quickly confirm this complication. Positive inotropic/chronotropic agents should be avoided as they may exacerbate outflow tract obstruction, resulting in further hemodynamic compromise.