Table 1.

Suggested timeline for CMR exams by expert consensus based on common clinical indications (not intended to be exhaustive and individual clinical circumstances need to be considered)

	Elective (wait 2–4 months)	Semi-urgent (1 week – 2 months)	Urgent (< 1 week)
Cardiomyopathy	Suspected hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or follow-up for late gadolinium enhancement Family history of sudden death, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, or other screening in clinically stable and asymptomatic patients Suspected dilated cardiomyopathy to assess LV function and etiology	Suspected infiltrative cardiomyopathy, depending on impact on treatment Follow-up of iron overload pending chelation therapy Family history of sudden death, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, or other screening in symptomatic patients	Acute myocarditis with implications for immediate management (within 1–3 days)
Ischemic heart disease	Stress perfusion in stable ischemic heart disease Viability for non-urgent revascularization	Stress perfusion in newly symptomatic patients Viability for revascularization in patients with recent symptoms	Ischemia and viability to guide urgent revascularization
Masses	Suspected benign mass, unlikely to prompt urgent surgery or biopsy	Question of thrombus with non-diagnostic echo and no contraindication to empiric anticoagulation	Suspected malignancy, likely to prompt imminent surgery, biopsy, or chemotherapy Suspected intracardiac mass or thrombus with contraindication to anticoagulation or in patients with suspected embolic events
Congenital heart disease	Follow-up of right ventricular function and pulmonary regurgitation in a clinically stable patient	Pre-interventional planning in a symptomatic patient	Information that can only be derived from CMR is needed for decision-making in an acutely ill patient
Arrhythmia	Ablation planning for atrial fibrillation in clinically stable patients	Ablation planning for ventricular arrhythmias in clinically stable patients	Planning for urgent ablation in unstable patients
Valvular disease	Follow up exams in aortic valve stenosis, or quantification of aortic, mitral, tricuspid  or pulmonic regurgitation in clinically stable patients	Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) planning pending procedural urgency	TAVR, aortic, mitral, tricuspid, or pulmonic regurgitation quantification, urgent surgery or percutaneous therapy planned
Pericardial disease	Follow-up for pericarditis in asymptomatic and stable patients	Acute pericarditis evaluation leading to potential change in management in symptomatic patients	Pericardial constriction requiring potential urgent surgery
Pulmonary hypertension	Evaluate right ventricular function for escalation of therapy in clinically stable patients	Evaluate right ventricular function for escalation of therapy in symptomatic patients
Aortic disease	Follow up dissection and/or aneurysms or repair/coarctation in stable patients	Monitoring of near intervention threshold aneurysms/coarctation	Suspected acute dissection (immediately)