Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is established in cardiomyopathies

Raju and colleagues did not elaborate on the established role of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in their clinical review of inherited cardiomyopathies. 1 In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy such imaging allows accurate measurement of wall thickness, location of hypertrophy, and assessment of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging further identifies areas of fibrosis with late gadolinium enhancement, which in recent longitudinal studies is strongly associated with sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. 2 3 Similarly, in dilated cardiomopathies cardiac magnetic resonance imaging distinguishes between causes and can identify mid-wall fibrosis, which is prognostic in predicting ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death. 4 It is helpful in diagnosing arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy with regional right ventricular akinesia or dyssynchrony in combination with either dilatation of the right ventricle or impaired right ventricular function. 5 It also has a role in imaging cardiac sarcoidosis, amyloidosis, Anderson-Fabry's disease, and non-compaction.