Combined coronary and perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the assessment of coronary artery stenosis.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of combined coronary and perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the assessment of coronary artery stenosis. Thirty-five consecutive patients (27 men, eight women, age range 34-81 years), undergoing cardiac catheterization, were assessed with 3D coronary CMR and rest-stress perfusion CMR. Significant coronary stenosis was determined by vessel narrowing or signal loss with coronary CMR, and by abnormal contrast enhancement with perfusion CMR. Coronary artery diameter stenosis greater than 50% was considered significant with conventional cardiac catheterization. Seventeen patients had significant coronary artery disease, and in these there were 35 significant stenoses on cardiac catheterization. All left main stem arteries were normal on both cardiac catheterization and coronary CMR. For the diagnosis of coronary artery stenosis, coronary CMR had a sensitivity of 92% for the left anterior descending artery (LAD), 79% for the right coronary artery (RCA), but only 13% for the circumflex coronary artery (LCX). Perfusion CMR had corresponding sensitivities of 69%, 86%, and 63%, respectively. For all arteries the accuracies for coronary and perfusion CMR were 67% and 72%, respectively. Combining coronary and perfusion CMR improved the accuracy to 77%. These data demonstrate that in patients with suspected coronary artery disease, combined coronary and perfusion CMR is feasible, increases the accuracy of detection of significant coronary stenosis, and offers the possibility of combined anatomical and hemodynamic assessment of coronary artery stenosis.