Quantification of vena cava blood flow with half Fourier echo-planar imaging

Human hemodynamics occurs in very short periods of time. To quantify blood flow under these circumstances, a fast-scan imaging technique is required. Echo-planar imaging can be a good candidate because it is able to acquire images in <50-100 msec. An imaging scheme with these properties can produce real-time images as well as overcome motion artifacts such as blurring and ghosting, which alter image quality. Additionally, echo-planar imaging does not require a calibration protocol to perform flow experiments in the human cardiovascular system. Consequently, echo-planar imaging appears to be the best imaging tool available to quantify blood flow in the vena cava. From a clinical point of view, echo-planar imaging has become a widespread commodity to produce magnetic resonance images in real-time.

Flow-encoded half Fourier echo-planar imaging is proposed to determine blood flow in the arteries. This flow sequence was used to investigate vena cava blood flow in healthy volunteers and compared with other diagnostic imaging modalities.

Two-dimensional flow maps were obtained by using the two components (sine and cosine images) resulting from the flow-encoded echo-planar imaging sequence. Velocity profiles of vena cava of two healthy volunteers were calculated from the previous bidimensional blood flow maps.

We proved that real-time flow imaging of the cardiovascular system can be achieved with flow-encoded echo-planar imaging and a partial Fourier method. It is possible to quantify blood flow in the superior vena cava in humans. We believe that this imaging tool might offer relevant anatomic and physiologic information of the vena cava as well as of the cardiovascular system.