Cardiac output by MR imaging: An experimental study

The authors evaluated the ability to quantify cardiac output (CO) noninvasively with MR imaging. Cardiac output was measured by thermodilution in five mongrel dogs. Spin-echo, cardiac-gated, contiguous MR images, were obtained parallel to the interventricular septum in end diastole and end systole. Each set of images was analyzed for chamber volume. No geometric assumptions were made. CO was calculated for both ventricles. The CO of the right and left ventricles compared well with each other and with the thermodilution data. MR imaging may potentially be used to assess CO and to compare right ventricular with left ventricular function