Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning of the heart has moved on considerably in recent years and has moved from being a fairly rare test to use to a much more routine examination. The scan does not use ionising radiation.

MRI scanning provides excellent high resolution images of the structure of the heart and in particular allows Dr Dalby to evaluate the muscle of the heart.

Although MRI is not routinely used to evaluate the anatomy of the coronary arteries (for which CTCA and coronary angiography are superior) stress perfusion MRI can give functional information about coronary artery perfusion and is growing in popularity.

MRI has a number of other strengths and is also a very good test for examining the thoracic and abdominal aorta.

All test results should be treated with caution and interpreted in the context of a clinical assessment.