[Cardiac magnetic resonance. Optimization of the parameters in the evaluation of right and left ventricular function]

MR imaging is the only non-invasive tomographic imaging modality capable of imaging the heart along planes that are parallel to each other and in any desired direction. Such reconstruction algorithms can thus be applied to MR images as the Simpson's rule which allows volume estimation of all cardiac cavities, although very irregular in shape, like the right ventricle. The authors optimized the technical parameters to obtain a set of multiphase double-angulated images on both the short and the long axes of the heart, in about 1-hour time. This technique was used to examine 31 patients suffering from several cardiopathies. The images allowed both end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes to be estimated, as well as the ejection fractions of both ventricles. In the left ventricle the area-length method and the Simpson's rule were applied, whereas only the latter was employed in the right ventricle. The correlation coefficients of US and MR data were, for the 3 parameters, r = 0.813, r = 0.920, and r = 0.879, respectively, in the first case, and r = 0.905, r = 0.923, and r = 0.890 in the second one. The time required to analyze the obtained data, which is done manually, is still considerably long.