No-reflow phenomenon in cardiac MRI: diagnosis and clinical implications.

Objective: The purposes of this study were to depict the first-pass, delayed contrast enhancement and regional myocardial wall motion abnormalities of no-reflow phenomenon MRI and to review the major mechanisms and significance of this phenomenon in the clinical setting.

Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced MRI is a useful noninvasive technique for determining the presence of microvascular obstruction. No-reflow phenomenon has important prognostic implications, and knowledge of the physiologic mechanism is important to understanding the distribution patterns of enhancement in correlation with the underlying pathologic process.