Focal myocardial damage exceeding 5% of myocardium within the region of interest seems to be necessary for detection of LGE in vivo in an experimental model of coronary microembolization.

Our results show that in vivo contrast-enhanced CMR imaging allows us to detect functional and structural myocardial changes after ME with a high sensitivity. Ex vivo, the pattern of LGE of high-resolution, contrast-enhanced CMR imaging is different from the well-known pattern of LGE in compact myocardial damage. Thus, improvements in spatial resolution are thought to be necessary to improve its ability to visualize ME-induced structural alterations even in vivo.