Infant cardiac MRI using oscillatory ventilation: safe and effective

Background Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) for infants and young children typically requires sedation. General anaesthesia can eliminate motion artefact and permits controlled ventilation with breath-holding during imaging to limit respiratory artefact, but this technique typically requires frequent changes in respiratory support that may impair pulmonary function, and pauses in image acquisition during recovery from breath-holding. HFOV provides ventilation with near-constant mean airway pressure, limited tidal volume, and minimal movement of chest wall and diaphragm, thus obviating the need for breath-holding during imaging. We have recently described a hybrid HFOV-anaesthesia delivery system for use during CMRI [Hoffman, 2010], but image quality has not been addressed heretofore.