Jos J.M. Westenberg1, Stijntje D. Roes1, Sebastiaan Hammer2, Pieter J. van den Boogaard1, Nina Ajmone Marsan3, Jeroen J. Bax3, Johan H.C. Reiber1, Albert de Roos1, Rob J. van der Geest1
1Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; 2Internal Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; 3Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
Conventional 2-dimensional one-directional through-plane velocity-encoded MRI not only extents imaging time when the flow through all heart valves needs to be studied sequentially, but also shows low agreement in net flow volume between the four valves. Three-dimensional three-directional velocity-encoded MRI with retrospective valve tracking during offline analysis is introduced for simultaneous flow assessment at all four heart valves in less than 5 minutes scan time. This technique is applied to 16 volunteers without valve regurgitation and 29 patients with valve regurgitation. The net flow volumes show good agreement between the valves. Regurgitation and net flow can be quantified accurately.
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