Main description:

Magnetic resonance imaging became clinical in 1981 and since that time, has spread in the United States, Europe and Japan like wild fire. The tremendous advantages of the method consisting of safety, superb soft tissue contrast resolution, the ability to study flow, the ability to image in any plane or acquire data in 3D and an almost infinite array of sequences capable of distinguishing between disease and normal tissue, normal and abnormal blood flow make it incomparable for the diagnosis and study of multiple diseases and is particularly valuable in studying the heart and major vessels. The authors of this book have understood that the secret of success of MR imaging in the study of the heart is to combine the knowledge of anatomy of the heart, the coronary vessels, the pericardium and large vessels with the intricacies of MR imaging. This is why they go deeply into the basic principles of NMR, starting from the essentials and going then into detailed techniques of acquiring images from traditional spin echo to gradient echo and ultra fast imaging approaches, such as the multi shot and EPI. The flow phenomena are also discussed in detail from flow and magnetic field gradients diastolic pseudogating.

Contents:

One Introduction.- One Anatomy of the Heart and of the Large Vessels.- Internal anatomy.- A. The ventricles.- B. The atria.- C. The coronary vessels.- D. The pericardium.- E. The anatomy of the large vessels.- 1. The main pulmonary artery.- 2. The aorta.- 3. The pulmonary veins.- 4. The vena cava system.- Two Principles of Cardiac Mr Imaging.- I: Basic physical principles of nuclear magnetic resonance.- I-1. Nuclei - Magnetic dipolar moment - Small magnet.- I-2. Spin and gyromagnetic ratio.- I-3. Static magnetic fields.- I-4. Precession - Resonant frequency - Longitudinal and transverse components.- I-5. Energy states and net magnetization vector.- I-6. Electromagnetic radiations - Resonance conditions.- I-7. Radiofrequency pulses.- I-8. Relaxation mechanisms - Relaxation times.- I-9. Detection of the NMR resonance signal - FID.- I-10. NMR Spectrum - Fourier transform - Chemical shift.- I-11. Experimental T2 times.- II: Advances imaging topics.- II-1. Spin-echo (SE) pulse sequence - Echo time (TE) and repetition time (TR) - Weightings.- II-2. Image contrast - Contrast weighting.- II-3. Image reconstruction.- II-4. Acquisition times - Scan time.- III: Special topics.- III-1. Fast imaging methods - Gradient echoes sequences.- III-2. Ultra fast imaging - The close future.- III-3. Flow phenomena.- III-4. Image quality.- III-5. Artefacts.- IV: References.- IV-1. Textbooks.- IV-2. Books chapters.- IV-3. Review articles.- Two Cardiac MR Imaging.- One MRI Slices of the Heart.- Transverse slices 1-13.- Sagittal slices 1-10.- Coronal slices 1-7.- LAO equivalent slices 1-10.- RAO equivalent slices 1-6.- Two Dynamic and Functional Studies.- Long axis views.- Short axis views.- Double angulation views.- End systole and end diastole.- Comprehensive Bibliography.- 1. Textbooks.- 2. Book chapters.- 3. Review articles.- 4. Technical considerations.- 5. Normal anatomy and MR-imaging planes of the heart.- 6. Ventricular function.- 7. Congenital heart disease.- 8. Valvular heart diseases.- 9. Chest, mediastinum and pulmonary hila.- 10. Myocardial ischemia and infarction.- 11. Cardiomyopathies.- 12. Contrast agents.- 13. Various heart diseases.- 14. Cardiac and paracardiac masses.- 15. Pericardium.- 16. Thoracic great vessels.- 17. Coronary arteries and grafts.- 18. Cardiac transplantation.- Anatomical Index.