[Advances in high speed MR imaging for the functional assessment of cardiovascular system]

Advances in high speed MR imaging methods are reviewed in connection with cardiac application. In cardiac MR imaging, the temporal relationship between signal acquisition and electrocardiogram has been altered with the progress from conventional spin-echo imaging to echo planar imaging. Introduction of K-space segmentation to electrocardiographic gating technique has realized a breath-hold cine MRI. As an example of functional MR imaging of the heart, assessment of left ventricular wall motion using turbo-FLASH imaging is presented. The importance of MR imaging for the functional assessment of cardiovascular system is increased by the recent progress in high speed imaging technique.