Studies of the heart using magnetic resonance

Abstract

Cardiovascular medicine is based on high-technology management of end-stage disease. Preventive medicine is preferable but, before magnetic resonance (MR), there was no noninvasive, safe, repeatable method of detecting occlusive vascular disease, which accounts for more deaths than any other disease at a presymptomatic stage. Demographic and animal studies show that occlusive vascular disease is not a normal aging process and is reversible. There was no method of monitoring the efficacy of preventive and therapeutic measures other than long, expensive, and sometimes inconclusive clinical trials. The rate of precession of atomic nuclei in a magnetic field is related to field strength. Creating a unique magnetic field in each volume of interest allows analysis of emitted radio signals to produce an image containing information about movement and local biochemical environments. MR produces accurate high resolution anatomical images and functional information including blood flow. It is already established as a method of choice in clinical cardiology for congenital heart disease and aortic disease. It is becoming established as a method of evaluating cardiovascular-active drugs, and in the future MR will be used for diagnosis and as a population-screening instrument for all cardiovascular disease including coronary artery disease.