High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of cardiovascular diseases

Young Jin Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2010.53.12.1059

Journal List > J Korean Med Assoc > v.53(12) > 1042225

Go to TopGo to Top Go to BottomGo to Bottom

TOOLS

Kim: High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of cardiovascular diseases

Focused Issue of This Month

Clinical Application of High Field Strength Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2010; 53(12): 1059-1064.

Published online: 7 December 2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2010.53.12.1059

High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of cardiovascular diseases

Young Jin Kim, MD

Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Young Jin Kim, dryj@yuhs.ac

Received 28 October 2010 Accepted 12 November 2010

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Given the continuous advances in the hardware and software of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cardiac MRI has come to be a routine imaging modality in clinical settings for evaluating both cardiac function and anatomy in various cardiovascular diseases. Recently, 3 tesla (T) MRI has become available and has demonstrated advantages over 1.5T in a broad range of clinical applications although some technical challenges still remain. This review will focus on the potential advantages and limitations of 3T cardiac MRI and its current clinical applications.

Keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging, High field strength, Cardiovascular diseases, 3 tesla

Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Short axis cine images acquired at 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging. (A) Balanced steady-state free-precession (bSSFP) cine image shows dark-band artifact (arrows) caused by B₀ inhomogeneity, especially in the lateral and inferior wall of the left ventricle at the heart-lung interface. (B) Spoiled gradient echo sequence image obtained from the same patient in (A) demonstrates no such dark-band artifact though contrast between myocardium and ventricular cavity is somewhat low compared to bSSFP cine image. (C) bSSFP cine image obtained from another patient with local shimming and 32 channel cardiac coil shows excellent image quality without dark-band artifact.

Figure 2

First-pass perfusion image acquired at 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A 74 year-old man with typical angina underwent stress perfusion MRI. First-pass perfusion MRI during adenosine stress (A) shows subendocardial perfusion defect at the lateral and inferior wall of the left ventricle while perfusion image at resting state (B) demonstrates no perfusion defect. Coronary angiography revealed critical stensosis at the middle segment of the left circumflex arery.

Figure 3

Myocardial tagging images acquired at 1.5 tesla (T) (A) and 3T (B). Due to the prolonged T1 relaxation time of the myocardium, fading of the myocardial tags is reduced at 3T as evident in the end diastolic image.

Figure 4

Whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography acquired from a healthy volunteer at 3 tesla with T2 preparation and navigator respiratory gating after gadolinium contrast agent injection.

References

1. Wen H, Denison TJ, Singerman RW, Balaban RS. The intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio in human cardiac imaging at 1.5, 3, and 4T. J Magn Reson. 1997. 125:65–71.

2. Wiesinger F, Boesiger P, Pruessmann KP. Electrodynamics and ultimate SNR in parallel MR imaging. Magn Reson Med. 2004. 52:376–390.

3. Bammer R, Schoenberg SO. Current concepts and advances in clinical parallel magnetic resonance imaging. Top Magn Reson Imaging. 2004. 15:129–158.

4. Hays AG, Schär M, Kelle S. Clinical applications for cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging at 3 tesla. Curr Cardiol Rev. 2009. 5:237–242.

5. Lohan DG, Saleh R, Tomasian A, Krishnam M, Finn JP. Current status of 3-T cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. Top Magn Reson Imaging. 2008. 19:3–13.

6. Tyler DJ, Hudsmith LE, Petersen SE, Francis JM, Weale P, Neubauer S, Clarke K, Robson MD. Cardiac cine MR-imaging at 3T: FLASH vs SSFP. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2006. 8:709–715.

7. Deshpande VS, Shea SM, Li D. Artifact reduction in true-FISP imaging of the coronary arteries by adjusting imaging frequency. Magn Reson Med. 2003. 49:803–809.

8. Wieben O, Francois C, Reeder SB. Cardiac MRI of ischemic heart disease at 3 T: potential and challenges. Eur J Radiol. 2008. 65:15–28.

9. Nael K, Fenchel M, Saleh R, Finn JP. Cardiac MR imaging: new advances and role of 3T. Magn Reson Imaging Clin N Am. 2007. 15:291–300.

10. Fenchel M, Kramer U, Nael K, Miller S. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging at 3.0 T. Top Magn Reson Imaging. 2007. 18:95–104.

11. Cheng AS, Pegg TJ, Karamitsos TD, Searle N, Jerosch-Herold M, Choudhury RP, Banning AP, Neubauer S, Robson MD, Selvanayagam JB. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance perfusion imaging at 3-tesla for the detection of coronary artery disease: a comparison with 1.5-tesla. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007. 49:2440–2449.

12. Zerhouni EA, Parish DM, Rogers WJ, Yang A, Shapiro EP. Human heart: tagging with MR imaging: a method for noninvasive assessment of myocardial motion. Radiology. 1988. 169:59–63.

13. Fischer SE, McKinnon GC, Maier SE, Boesiger P. Improved myocardial tagging contrast. Magn Reson Med. 1993. 30:191–200.

14. Kramer U, Deshpande V, Fenchel M, Klumpp B, Laub G, Finn JP, Claussen CD, Miller S. Cardiac MR tagging: optimization of sequence parameters and comparison at 1.5 T and 3.0 T in a volunteer study. Rofo. 2006. 178:515–524.

15. Yang Q, Li K, Liu X, Bi X, Liu Z, An J, Zhang A, Jerecic R, Li D. Contrast-enhanced whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography at 3.0-T: a comparative study with X-ray angiography in a single center. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2009. 54:69–76.

16. Sommer T, Hackenbroch M, Hofer U, Schmiedel A, Willinek WA, Flacke S, Gieseke J, Träber F, Fimmers R, Litt H, Schild H. Coronary MR angiography at 3.0 T versus that at 1.5 T: initial results in patients suspected of having coronary artery disease. Radiology. 2005. 234:718–725.

17. Maintz D, Ozgun M, Hoffmeier A, Quante M, Fischbach R, Manning WJ, Heindel W, Botnar RM. Whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography: value for the detection of coronary artery stenoses in comparison to multislice computed tomography angiography. Acta Radiol. 2007. 48:967–973.

18. Pouleur AC, le Polain de Waroux JB, Kefer J, Pasquet A, Vanoverschelde JL, Gerber BL. Direct comparison of whole-heart navigator-gated magnetic resonance coronary angiography and 40-and 64-slice multidetector row computed tomography to detect the coronary artery stenosis in patients scheduled for conventional coronary angiography. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2008. 1:114–121.

TOOLS

Similar articles