Cardiovascular Examination with 3.0 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging: First 100 Cases at Ramathibodi Hospital
Pairoj Rerkpattanapipat MD, FACC, FACP, FASE*,**,***, Suvipaporn Siripornpitak MD****, Ratanaporn Pornkul MD****, Sutipong Jongjirasiri MD****, Jiraporn Laothamatas MD****
Affiliation : * Cardiology section, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University ** Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University *** Cardiovascular imaging section, Perfect Heart Institute **** Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University
Background : Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has been utilized for diagnosis in various
cardiovascular diseases and most of those were performed on a 1.5 Tesla CMR system. Recently, a 3.0 Tesla
magnetic resonance imaging system has been introduced into clinical practice, however, the clinical experience
on cardiovascular examination using this system is limited. Therefore, the authors’ institution has integrated
a team for developing a CMR program on this 3.0 Tesla system.
Objective : To describe the authors’ experience on the 3.0 Tesla CMR system.
Materials and Methods : The data on patients referred to the authors’ CMR unit between August 2004 and
October 2005 were reviewed.
Results : One hundred patients were referred for CMR examination. The mean age was 56 years (2 month - 85
years) and 65 patients were male. The most common indication was to assess coronary artery disease (64
patients). The performed examination was divided into cardiac structure and function assessment (39%),
stress testing (23%), coronary magnetic resonance angiography (13%), myocardial viability assessment
(12%), magnetic resonance angiography (9%), and flow assessment (4%).
Conclusion : The present study highlights that comprehensive assessment of various cardiovascular diseases
can be performed on the 3.0 Tesla CMR system.
Keywords : Magnetic resonance imaging, Cardiovascular disease, Congenital heart disease, Coronary artery disease, Vascular disease
