Rationale and Objectives. Accurate signal to tracer concentration maps are critical to quantitative MRI. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and optimize spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) MR sequences for the use of gadolinium (Gd-DTPA) as a kinetic tracer. Methods. Water-gadolinium phantoms were constructed for a physiologic range of gadolinium concentrations. Observed and calculated SPGR sig...

Introduction As of today, the use of MRI procedures on patients with implanted cardiac pacemakers is prohibited due to safety issues. The implants can interact with the RF fields of the MRI device. The most hazardous effect is heating at the tip of the lead, less dangerous are sensing errors and malfunctions of the devices, because they disappear completely after the procedure. The majority of ...

OBJECTIVES Cerebral complications of infective endocarditis (IE) [particularly, mycotic aneurysm, visualized as a hypointense spot on T2*-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)] are associated with a high incidence of postoperative cerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage. We have adopted a policy of performing elective open heart surgery after performing a MRI enhanced by gadolinium in suc...

Introduction Interventional CMR has been undergoing rapid development because of the availability of MR compatible interventional catheters, and the increased performance of the MR systems themselves. Much of this development has benefited from the previous groundbreaking work in MRI guided surgical technologies ; however, intravascular techniques do not carry the requirement for an open access...

OBJECTIVE Although conventional radiography is used to assess osteoarthritis in a clinical setting, it has limitations, including an inability to stage early cartilage degeneration. There is a growing interest in using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging to identify degenerative changes in articular cartilage, including the large multicentered study, the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI). The...

Background Cardiac MRI is the reference standard for cardiac morphology and functional assessment of left and right ventricular (LV,RV) end-diastolic and -systolic volumes (EDV, ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF) and myocardial mass (Mass) due to its high image resolution tissue differentiation. Because of its cylindrical shape and resulting spatial restrictions, a significant amo...

Background First-pass myocardial stress perfusion MR imaging (MRI) is routinely used for the detection of myocardial ischemia in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD). Up to now, cardiac MRI stress testing had to be performed in a closed bore environment. To allow for MR stress perfusion in claustrophobic patients and to improve monitoring during stress examination and ...

The posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a well described entity of white matter pathology. PRES is triggered by numerous different factors such as acute elevated arterial hypertension, immunosupressive therapy, chemotherapy, etc. The case of a 67-year old woman is presented. The patient was treated for breast cancer 10 months ago and because of acute disorientation a magnetic...