Petter Dyverfeldt1, Jonatan Eriksson1, Andreas Sigfridsson1, John-Peder E. Kvitting1, Carljohan Carlhll1, Jan Engvall1, Ann F. Bolger2, Tino Ebbers1
1Linkping University and Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linkping, Sweden; 2University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
The right ventricle has an important role in cardiovascular disease. However, because of the complex geometry and the sensitivity to the respiratory cycle, imaging of the right ventricle is challenging. We investigated whether 3D cine phase-contrast MRI can provide data with sufficient accuracy for visualizations of the 4D blood flow in the right ventricle. Whole-heart 4D flow measurements with optimized imaging parameters and post-processing tools were made in healthy volunteers. Pathlines emitted from the right atrium could be traced through the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery without leaving the blood pool and thereby met our criteria for sufficient accuracy.