What does an heart MRI show?

[jamesuk1981]

Hello board.

I have been suffering from heart palpitation/odd sensations in my chest for over a year now, and posted previously about the situation.  My heat started fluttering for a few seconds at a time every day becoming worse and worse where my heart would jump around in my chest so harshly it was very scary - until I started taking betablockers which has settled it, but I am still left with the heart flutters and odd "popping" sensations behind my breastbone - which sometimes cause an odd niggling tickly feeling that leads up into my throat. All very odd. I notice my heart seems to flutter and skip often when i lean forward (i.e like sat on the toilet) or when i crouch down to the floor for whatever reason).   I had an ECG and an MRI about a year ago, both of which came back normal.  My question is - would the heart MRI I had have shown the areas around the heart?  I am wondering if there could be an abnormality in perhaps the vessels around the heart, a blockage of somekind etc. causing my heart to skip/jump/flutter and cause odd sometimes painful popping sensations in my chest?  

I ask only because my mother died of a blockage in her artery by her heart, and want to be sure something like that isn't lurking in my chest and it hasn't been spotted. I can ofcourse go to the doctors again and ask this, but if someone knows the standard procedure of an MRI of the heart, it would be helpful. Thanks.

James

[itdood]

Hi James, I have an idea, call up the MRI center where you had the MRI.  Most of them will give you the pathology report and a CD with all the images.

Standard cardiac MRI protocol calls for 3d turbo images which are excellent at detecting CAD.    These can detect calcification before they become blockages.

I had an MRI and I asked for my report and CD at the MRI center.  It included about 1,700 total images.  I was able to stitch together a movie with the pathology utility they included on the CD.


Here's a link to the vid.  Hopefully this works, I'm trying to post the HTML to see if this will setup a hyperlink.

itdood's MRI video


If that doesn't work copy and paste this into your browser's address bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ab4vqdB4Vo

this vid doesn't include the 3d turbo images of my arteries.

In my report they said no CAD detected.

[Jerry_NJ]

I will "pop" something in, that may supplement some better input yet to come.  I do not know specifically what a MRI does/shows.  I've never had one, but I have had echocardiograms and I think they are somewhat the same, and neither checks on blockage in the arteries of the heart.  This is done at the fist level with a stress test (you didn't mention having one, you my want to request given you family history)   - it that is not conclusive then a nuclear stress test and if that is not clear (I usually get a false blockage reading, or at least a possible blockage reading from stress tests).  The gold standard is variously call an Angiogram or a heart cauterization is which dyes (or something that can be detected) is injected directly into the heart and "Mapped" to see if it circulates to the heart arteries.  This test is considered to be conclusive: not false positives or negatives.

Hope that helps some.