Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: pre- and postoperative assessment with breath-hold MR imaging techniques.

Purpose: To evaluate the potential of breath-hold magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques in morphologic and functional assessment of patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) before and after surgery.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-four patients with CTEPH were examined before and after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE). For morphologic assessment, contrast material-enhanced MR angiography was used; for assessment of hemodynamics, velocity-encoded gradient-echo sequences and cine gradient-echo sequences along the short axis of the heart were performed.