Transesophageal magnetic resonance imaging

The purpose of this study was to develop a non-invasive method of imaging t he thoracic aorta that would provide both morphological detail within the a ortic wall and information about regional aortic wall motion. An esophageal probe is described that allows transesophageal MR imaging (TEMRI) of the t horacic aorta and has several potential advantages over the competing non-v asculoinvasive techniques of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) or stan dard MRI. The probe consists of a loopless antenna housed inside a modified Levin gastric tube, with external matching and tuning circuitry, Using thi s probe, the thoracic aorta has been imaged in longitudinal and cross-secti onal views. Details of the aortic wall were readily seen. Tissue tagging fo r measurement of focal stress/strain relationships was demonstrated to be f easible. TEMRI avoids the risks inherent in intravascular MRI yet provides comparable image quality. Potential applications of the device are discusse d. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.