MRI as a method in preoperative evaluation of patients with coarctation of the aorta

Full text: The purpose of the article is to discuss the potentialities of MRI by preoperative evaluation of patients with coarctation of the aorta, to propose the most appropriate MR imaging examination, basing on the accepted standards and our experience in this field MRI is widely recognized method of choice for the preoperative evaluation of coarctation of aorta demonstrating all parameters necessary to plan the surgical or interventional repair. The site, the degree of the stenosis as well as the length of the narrowing are precisely defined in MRI imaging. The degree of associated aortic arch tubular hypoplasia, the collateral pathway, the poststenotic dilatation, the degree of left ventricular hypertrophy are also well defined with MRI, using EKG-gating spin-echo imaging, cine-MR imaging and postcontrast 3D CE MRA. Velocity-encoded cine (VEC) MR imaging allows assessment of the pressure gradient across the coarctation, by measurement and calculation of the peak velocity and maximum velocity within the stenotic jet