Abstract
The multitude of applications offered by CMR make it an increasing popular modality to study the heart and the surrounding vessels. Nevertheless the anatomical complexity of the chest, together with cardiac and respiratory motion, and the fast flowing blood, present many challenges which can possibly translate into imaging artefacts. The literature is wide in terms of papers describing specific MR artefacts in great technical detail. In this review we attempt to summarise, in a language accessible to a clinical readership, some of the most common artefacts found in CMR applications. It begins with an introduction of the most common pulse sequences, and imaging techniques, followed by a brief section on typical cardiovascular applications. This leads to the main section on common CMR artefacts with examples, a short description of the mechanisms behind them, and possible solutions.
Highlights
There are unique motion and other issues involved in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) that can lead to artefacts which can obscure or be misinterpreted as pathology
A large range of different sequences are used for the different applications in CMR and the majority of these are still being developed to improve their accuracy and reliability
The complex cardiac structure with mixtures of fat and water based tissues containing complex and varying blood flows, and the large chest region with many organs and tissue-air interfaces open the door to additional artefacts and measurement errors
Summary
There are unique motion and other issues involved in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) that can lead to artefacts which can obscure or be misinterpreted as pathology. An artefact can be defined as something that is visible in an image but it is artificial, and is often detrimental to diagnosis. For this reason it is important to have an understanding of the physical principles behind the formation of such artefacts so that they can be identified and possibly avoided. A large range of different sequences are used for the different applications in CMR and the majority of these are still being developed to improve their accuracy and reliability. The artefacts are specific to cardiovascular imaging, and more general artefacts related to hardware are omitted
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