Cardiac MR imaging: principles and techniques

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is becoming an important tool in diagnosing cardiovascular disease. Many technical advances have contributed to the improved capability of MR imaging in this arena. In this article, we review the technical concepts and recent advances for a variety of cardiovascular applications, including evaluation of congenital heart and great vessel disease, global cardiac function using cine acquisitions and automated ventricular volume segmentation, valvular heart disease, myocardial wall motion detection with magnetization tagging, two-dimensional and three-dimensional coronary artery imaging, and myocardial perfusion. Sequence diagrams are shown and important technical issues are discussed. Example images are shown to demonstrate the current status of research and future potential. Most results shown here are high-resolution scans acquired with new gradient coil systems, including coronary artery imaging using an in-plane resolution of 350 microns x 600 microns. This review serves as an introduction to the discussion of various clinical applications of cardiovascular MR imaging provided in this issue.