 Its applications include assessment of myocardial ischemia and viability, cardiomyopathies, myocarditis, iron overload, vascular diseases, and congenital heart disease.It is the reference standard for the assessment of cardiac structure and function, and is valuable for diagnosis and surgical planning in complex congenital heart disease.Combined with vasodilator stress it has a role in detecting and characterizing myocardial ischemia due to disease affecting the epicardial vessels and microvasculature.