Abstract #3586

Maier C, Lorenz C

Monitoring the ECG for ischemic changes during dobutamine stress testing or MR-guided interventions is not possible in the MR environment due to the magnetohydrodynamic effect. However, wall motion and global cardiac function can be assessed in real time by MR and interleaved with other types of MR acquisitions. We converted real time MR to an m-mode (motion mode) representation analogous to echocardiography to allow (a) a simple continuous display of cardiac function and (b) simplify real time segmentation and automatic extraction of LV ejection fraction. Preliminary results show that the method may be useful as a monitoring method for CMR.