Functional analysis of magnetic resonance studies of the heart.

Abstract

To calculate left ventricle volumes and ejection fraction, magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired in an oblique position in end-diastole and end-systole. The ejection fraction values were compared with results of gated blood pool studies with 99mTc-labelled erythrocytes (correlation coefficient 0.8). Determination of regional wall motion was also possible. A method for acquiring sequences of 16 images per heartbeat was developed. It allows the detection of disturbances of wall motion by using Fourier analysis.