Between February 1988 and July 1989, the authors used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study 54 newborn infants aged between 2 and 35 days and suspected of congenital heart disease. All children also underwent echocardiography and 7 angiography during the neonatal period (13% of children studied). MRI was well tolerated and there were no adverse events. MRI proved to be complementary to echocardiography in several lesions affecting the great vessels of the base and the left atrial region. Agreement between angiography and MRI results was very good, with MRI being more useful in one case. MRI enables full and non-invasive postoperative follow-up. In conclusion, despite the great heterogenicity of the cardiac malformations studied and which requires a degree of caution, the authors feel that MRI is a second line investigation after echocardiography. It may limit the indications of angiography. Its own indications are the retrocardiac region, the main arteriovenous vessels of the base and postoperative follow-up in congenital heart disease. The development of techniques such as angio RM will further modify data in the future.