Impaired coronary flow reserve determined by MR measurement of coronary sinus flow predicts adverse outcome in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease

Background Recent studies demonstrated that Rb PET-derived myocardial perfusion reserve has a significant prognostic impact on the prediction of cardiac events in patients assessed for myocardial ischemia. Regional myocardial ischemia and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) defined by cardiac MR imaging are also reported as significant prognosticators for future cardiac events. However, the prognostic value of coronary flow reserve (CFR) obtained by MR flow measurement remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of CFR determined by phase contrast cine MR imaging of the coronary sinus in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).