Fast magnetic resonance imaging of the heart

Fast MR imaging techniques have multiple applications for evaluation of cardiac disease. Cine MRI and MR tagging have been shown to be highly accurate and reproducible in evaluating regional and global myocardial function. Segmented k-space cine MRI and echo-planar imaging (EPI) can considerably improve time efficiency and thereby the clinical utility of these techniques. Double IR fast spin-echo sequences enable breath-hold acquisition of T2 weighted MRI with good suppression of the blood signal. Myocardial perfusion can be assessed with fast dynamic MRI after administration of contrast media. Multi-shot EPI improves temporal resolution and also provides full coverage of the left ventricle. Substantial progress has been made in respiratory gated 3D coronary artery MR angiography with navigator echoes. The newer approaches for coronary arterial imaging including breath-hold three-dimensional segmented EPI and high resolution spiral MRI may further improve clinical usefulness of coronary MR angiography. Assessment of coronary blood flow and flow reserve with phase contrast MRI has the potential for the non-invasive evaluating of the presence and significance of stenosis in the native coronary artery and bypass grafts. Fast cardiac MRI may emerge as a cost effective modality for comprehensive assessments of both cardiac morphology, function, blood flow and perfusion.