Congenital heart disease: measuring physiology with MRI

Cine MRI and VEC MRI can be used to quantitate the physiology of the heart and great vessels in patients with CHD. This information can be a valuable adjunct to anatomical imaging for preoperative planning as well as postoperative monitoring. Some important clinical applications of quantitative cardiovascular functional MRI include measurement of ventricular masses, stroke volumes, and ejection fractions; estimation of shunts and valvular regurgitation; assessment of collateral blood flow and pressure gradients in aortic coarctation; and postsurgical evaluation of conduit blood flow and pressure gradients.