Background: The assessment of diastolic heart function has been hampered by multiple difficulties. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a new, noninvasive technique to study cardiac function.
Methods: The literature on CMR for the analysis of diastolic function and its clinical applications is extensively reviewed.
Results: Analysis of ventricular filling velocity and volume flow, volumetric assessment of ventricular chamber volume, analysis of 3-dimensional myocardial strains, and assessment of myocardial energy content are numerous validated applications of CMR. With the advent of real-time imaging and automated analysis of myocardial strains, CMR tagging is a promising method to assess regional diastolic function. Today, many CMR techniques are leaving the experimental or developmental stage rapidly and becoming clinically available for the evaluation of diastolic function in heart disease.
Conclusions: CMR is emerging as a highly accurate and reproducible noninvasive 3-dimensional technique for the assessment of diastolic function.