Noninvasive cardiac flow assessment using high speed magnetic resonance fluid motion tracking.

ABSTRACT: Cardiovascular diseases can be diagnosed by assessing abnormal flow behavior in the heart. We introduce, for the first time, a magnetic resonance imaging-based diagnostic that produces sectional flow maps of cardiac chambers, and presents cardiac analysis based on the flow information. Using steady-state free precession magnetic resonance images of blood, we demonstrate intensity contrast between asynchronous and synchronous proton spins. Turbulent blood flow in cardiac chambers contains asynchronous blood proton spins whose concentration affects the signal intensities that are registered onto the magnetic resonance images. Application of intensity flow tracking based on their non-uniform signal concentrations provides a flow field map of the blood motion. We verify this theory in a patien

SUBMITTER: Wong KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2682657 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature