In recent years there have been major advances in the fields of cardiovascular nuclear medicine and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. In nuclear cardiology more adequate tomographic systems have been designed for routine cardiac use, as well as new or improved quatitative analytic software packages both for planar and tomographic studies implemented on modern state-of-the-art workstations. In addition, artificial intelligence techniques are being applied to these images in attempts to interpret the nuclear studies in a more objective and reproductive manner. Various new radiotracers have been developed, such as antimyosin, labelled isonitriles, metabolic compounds, etcetera. Furthermore, alternative stress testing with dipyridamole and dobutamine has received much attention in clinical cardiac practice. Magnetic resonance imaging is a relative newcomer in cardiology and has already shown its merits, not only for anatomical information but increasingly for the functional aspects of cardiac performance.

1. Magnetic resonance imaging: A new approach for evaluating coronary artery disease?.- 2. Coronary circulation.- 3. Magnetic resonance imaging and quantitation of blood flow.- 4. Imaging strategy in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.- 5. MRI determination of cardiac dimensions.- 6. Visualization of the coronary arteries.- 7. Magnetic resonance imaging of myocardial ischemia and infarction in experimental animal models.- 8. Magnetic resonance imaging in acute myocardial infarction.- 9. Assesment of myocardial infarction by magnetic resonance imaging with the aid of contrast agents.- 10. MRI: Evaluation of ventricular function in coronary artery disease.- 11. Stress magnetic resonance imaging in coronary artery disease.- 12. Visualization of coronary artery bypasses with MRI.- 13. Recent advances of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in myocardial ischemia.

In the past few years it has become clear that left ventricular dysfunction, even of severe degree, may be reversible after coronary revascularization in some patients. As a result, myocardial viability has captured the imagination of researchers and clinicians seeking to unravel the cellular and subcellular mechanisms and define appropriate diagnostic modalities. These diagnostic modalities include: cardiac catheterization, positron-emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, two-dimensional echocardiography and single-photon imaging. This book brings together a diverse array of information in a comprehensive and concise fashion using a template of 10 chapters written by experts in the field. It should be of value to cardiologists, radiologists, nuclear medicine specialists, cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists, internists and basic researchers and their trainees who are involved in the management of patients with coronary artery disease in whom myocardial viability is a clinically relevant issue.