Dedicated software package for comprehensive cardiac MR imaging

The authors report their experience in 300 patients imaged with an 0.5-T Philips system with a new dedicated cardiac software package that integrates (1) a compound oblique angle setup and (2) dynamic dual spin-echo and (3) gradient-echo acquisitions with, (4) flexible arrhythymia rejection and (5) semiautomated data analysis to improve time-effectiveness. Studies with conventional software may require approximately 100 minutes to acquire and analyze. With this software package, oblique setups were completed in about 15 minutes, while six dynamic short-axis and four long-axis sections were acquired in about 40 minutes. End-diastolic and end-systolic volumes, ejection fractions, and cardiac output were measured in about 12 minutes. The ejection fractions correlated closely (r -- .92) with findings of radionuclide ventriculography (RNV), and volumes of porcine hearts were accurate to within 4%-8%. Analysis of segmental wall dynamics and grading of valvular insufficiency correlated well with findings of RNV and echocardiography. Thus, this cardiac software package greatly reduces comprehensive study times while yielding large amounts of accurate data and improving cost competitiveness