Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance for the Assessment of Viability

The main goal of this dissertation was to assess prospectively the value of two cardiovascular magnetic resonance methodises (the transmural extent of an late gadolinium enhancement and the contractile reserve during low dose dobutamine administration) as predictors of left ventricular segmental and global functional recovery in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction undergoing surgical or percutaneous revascularisation. Taking into account previous studies, revascularisation of the viable myocardium results in an improvement of patient's symptoms and prognosis. This finding emphasized the need for and importance of noninvasive tests to quantify the amount of viable myocardium in patients with left ventricular dysfunction in order to define the optimal management strategy. On the basis of the original research described in the dissertation, the diagnostic value of different cardiovascular magnetic resonance based viability prediction methods was assessed. On the basis of the research results the optimal viability assessment algorithm was created and has been successfully used in routine clinical practice.