British Journal of Radiology (2003) 76, 76
© 2003 British Institute of Radiology
doi:
Coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography. Edited by A J'Duerinckx, pp. xv+342, 2002 (Springer-Verlag, New York, NY), £165.50 ISBN 0 387 94959 3
M R Lees
A large number of meetings over the last few years have been devoted to a seemingly elusive subject, imaging the coronary arteries without the use of angiography. MRI has always been seen as the method most likely to achieve this goal and a great deal of effort has been expended into coronary imaging by this technique. In the last year however, it has appeared that CT has come from behind in this non-invasive imaging race and taken the lead. In view of this, how interesting or relevant is this book, which has its aim of explaining MRI coronary imaging?
This book is edited by an enthusiast and expert in the technique and has as its aim an exposition of the current state of the art. Does it achieve this? Yes. After an opening two chapters on background and coronary anatomy, there are clear descriptions of the techniques and science of coronary MRI, followed by two good chapters on "how I do it" giving practical guidance on the 2D and 3D breath-hold and navigator methods. The book then enters the territory of current clinical applications and makes a convincing case for using MRI to image coronary anomalies, by pass grafts and congenital heart disease in successive short chapters. The illustrations to these chapters are clear and helpful.
It might have been useful to publish a shorter cheaper book by stopping at this point, the rest of the book, although dealing intelligently with present and future research and mounting compelling arguments for how MRI will develop, are much more technical and somewhat speculative in how these techniques might be applied clinically. The problem with this section is that these techniques are really only applicable in a research setting and are of limited use to routine practice. In the final few chapters there are comparisons with intravascular ultrasound and CT as alternative techniques for imaging coronary arteries, the former is a technique less frequently used and the latter is most definitely on the increase, neither techniques is directly compared with MRI and again this seems to be something of a mechanism to fill out the book rather than to help anyone decide which technique to use.
Finally after a short section on "what is the future?" by the editor there are two very useful chapters on left ventricular function and stress MRI techniques, which left me with the impression that this section could have been expanded at the expense of some of the other material.
As someone working in a hospital, which has recently acquired a new MRI with all the latest cardiac software, I would put this book on the reference shelf but at £165 I would like someone else to pay for it.
