MR imaging of adult patients with congenital heart disease

Although the incidence of congenital heart disease remains constant among n ewborns, improved medical and surgical techniques have dramatically prolong ed life expectancy and produced a new, growing group of patients harboring these lesions: adults with congenital heart disease. Conventional imaging t echniques in these patients may be limited because of patient size, chest c onfiguration, or poor ventricular function. MR imaging provides a noninvasi ve means of directly demonstrating their developmental abnormalities and th e sequelae of pathophysiologic changes caused by these lesions. Combined us e of spin echo and gradient reversal echo acquisition techniques allows com plete evaluation of cardiac morphology and function in these patients. As n ew medical and surgical therapies prolong the lives of these patients, the role of MR imaging for physiologic assessment and surgical planning will ex pand further.