Quantification of ductal blood flow with magnetic resonance imaging in newborns with obstructive left heart disease

Background Patients with congenital obstructive left heart lesions often depend on ductal blood flow to supplement their systemic circulation. Echocardiography (ECHO) is routinely used to assess duct patency and shunt direction, but may be of limited value in shunt quantification. We hypothesized that ECHO assessment of net direction and magnitude of blood flow across a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is unreliable as compared to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).