Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) offers superior image quality compared to echocardiography and nuclear imaging, and the ability to image both function and perfusion. Combining the superior image quality of CMR with the diagnostic information provided by exercise stress could result in a new, more accurate modality for diagnosing and evaluating coronary artery disease. This project is expected to show that CMR is at least equivalent to nuclear stress imaging and could potentially replace it in many instances, eliminating the need for radioisotope administration and the associated exposure of patients to ionizing radiation.

Exercise nuclear and CMR examinations including aggregate assessment of exercise parameters, ECG findings, myocardial perfusion, segmental left ventricular wall motion (CMR only), and viability will be independently reviewed offline by a consensus of two reviewers blinded to the results of the other imaging study, and each test will be classified as either negative/adequate stress, negative/inadequate stress, positive for ischemia, or fixed abnormality/no ischemia.