Magnetic resonance blood flow mapping in ischemic heart disease

With MR velocity mapping, volume flow can be calculated with high accuracy because of the simultaneous acquisition of mean velocity and area of the vessel. In addition, MR velocity mapping is the only imaging technique with the potential to acquire comprehensive information and is well suited for studying spatial and temporal patterns of flow in the human cardiovascular system. Moreover, recently, in vivo work in humans has shown good comparison of MRI coronary flow with intraarterial Doppler flow wire measurements both with and without navigator echo respiratory compensation, the latter being important because of blurring of the phase velocity maps caused by respiratory movements and problems with through plane flow in small vessels.