Evaluation of the cardiovascular system using NMR

Abstract

The current status and suggestions of the future potential for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the cardiovascular system are described. With many of the potential applications, there is overlap with existing methods. For example, imaging of the left ventricle can be accomplished with either echocardiography or radionuclide techniques with adequate evaluation of the left ventricular function. At current costs these conventional techniques may provide a more cost-effective approach for morphologic and functional assessment of the cardiovascular system. For this type of imaging, the advantages of NMR include its excellent resolution, the inherent tissue contrast, the sensitivity to blood motion, the 3-dimensional measure, and the lack of ionizing radiation. Because of these, NMR could provide an important adjunct for evaluation of the cardiovascular system. However for NMR to achieve its full promise as a cardiovascular imaging technique, some of its unique potentials need to be developed. These include: the ability to reliably image at least the proximal coronary arteries, the ability to delineate regional myocardial blood flow distribution, the ability to evaluate regional metabolic activity such as high-energy phosphate metabolites, and the ability to characterize myocardial disease using proton T1 and T2 alterations.