Baseline correction of phase contrast images improves quantification of blood flow in the great vessels.

Purpose: Phase-contrast Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) generally requires the analysis of stationary tissue adjacent to a blood vessel to serve as a baseline reference for zero velocity. However, for the heart and great vessels, there is often no stationary tissue immediately adjacent to the vessel. Consequently, uncorrected velocity offsets may introduce substantial errors in flow quantification.

Setting up a clinical cardiac MR imaging program: practical issues and economics.

Use of MR imaging to assess the heart has grown rapidly in recent years. MR imaging can assess cardiac anatomy, quantify ventricular and valvular function, identify regions of infarcted myocardium, and evaluate flow-limiting coronary artery stenoses better than any other single imaging modality. Despite its superior capabilities, cardiac MR imaging has yet to be adopted widely in clinical practice, in part because of the many obstacles to developing a clinical cardiac MR imaging program.