Motion-corrected cardiac MRI limits anesthesia exposure and healthcare costs in children

Abstract

Purpose: The benefits of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in the pediatric population must be continually balanced with the risk and cost of sedation, particularly in children with cardiac disease. Current CMR imaging methods allow free-breathing, averaged imaging, however significant motion artifacts, poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and lengthy scan times limit their use. Many pediatric CMR programs opt for breath-held CMR imaging using general anesthesia. The advent of new free-breathing CMR imaging techniques leveraging single-shot, motion-corrected (MOCO) sequences offer a significant opportunity to limit sedation exposure while …