Flow in Left Atrium Using MR Fluid Motion Estimation

A recent development based on optical flow applied onto Fast Imaging in Steady State Free Precession (TrueFISP) magnetic resonance imaging is able to deliver good estimation of the flow profile in the human heart chamber. The examination of cardiac flow based on tracking of MR signals emitted by moving blood is able to give medical doctors insight into the flow patterns within the human heart using standard MRI procedure without specifically subjecting the patient to longer scan times using more dedicated scan protocols such as phase contrast MRI. Although MR fluid motion estimation has its limitations in terms of accurate flow mapping, the use of a comparatively quick scan procedure and computational post-processing gives satisfactory flow quantification and can assist in management of cardiac patients. In this study, we present flow in the left atria of five human subjects using MR fluid motion tracking. The measured flow shows that vortices exist within the atrium of heart. Although the scan is two-dimensional, we have produced multiple slices of flow maps in a spatial direction to show that the vortex exist in a three-dimensional space.