MRI Identifies Heart Attack Risk

ne of the most effective ways to predict whether a person who’s had a heart attack is still at risk of suffering life-threatening cardiac problems turns out to be through magnetic resonance imaging. That’s the result of a study led by cardiologist Joao A.C. Lima, M.D., who looked at MRI scans to see whether lingering blockage in the tiniest of blood vessels can signal a future of heart attacks, congestive heart failure, stroke or death.

Heart attack survivors whose MRI scans picked up capillaries partially clogged with dying blood cells and debris were likely to face further complications within the next two years, noted the study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In addition, the scans were able to show the severity of a heart attack (the more serious the episode, the higher the patient’s risk of later problems).

“This is one of the first in an increasing number of clinical studies that show us how MRI is likely to become the dominant method for imaging the heart in the near future,” says radiology director and co-author Elias Zerhouni, M.D. For patients who’ve already survived a terrifying heart attack, the minimally invasive technology could add up to “a cost-effective means to identify which patients need to be monitored in order to prevent or minimize future cardiac events.”