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Flow and Valvular Disease Studied by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

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Abstract

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has important contributions to make to the assessment of heart valve disease. These can be complementary to routine echocardiographic assessment, for example in the quantification of valve regurgitation and clarification of the nature and level(s) of right or left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. In ischemic mitral regurgitation, CMR allows the assessment of myocardial scarring and viability as well as the nature of valve dysfunction. CMR provides a noninvasive alternative to echocardiography in patients with inconsistent findings or limited acoustic access. For studies of multidirectional flow, CMR can measure all three directional components of velocity in voxels distributed in three dimensions and through the phases of the cycle. More clinically applicable, however, are volumetric flow measurements, forward or regurgitant, through planes transecting one or both great arteries. These derived measurements are prone to errors caused by slight background phase offsets, which may require appropriate correction.

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Acknowledgment

Philip Kilner is supported by the British Heart Foundation.

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No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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  1. CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, SW3 6NP, UK

    Philip J. Kilner

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  1. Philip J. Kilner
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Correspondence to Philip J. Kilner.

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Kilner, P.J. Flow and Valvular Disease Studied by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. curr cardiovasc imaging rep 3, 74–82 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-010-9008-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-010-9008-x

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