Morphologic and functional evaluation of congenital heart disease by magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has evolved sufficiently to be recognized as a useful complementary noninvasive method to echocardiography in the eva luation of congenital heart disease (CHD), In some cases, MRI is superior t o other imaging modalities, particularly in the evaluation of thoracic aort ic anomalies and in defining the anatomy of central pulmonary arteries; it is also the procedure of choice in the postoperative follow-up of patients with CHD, Recent technological advances permit not only morphological evalu ation (provided by spin-echo and MR angiographic techniques) but functional and now information (provided by fast cine-GE and velocity-encoded sequenc es), causing it to be recognized by pediatric cardiologists and cardiac sur geons as an unavoidable technique for pre- and postoperative evaluation of some CHD, This review describes the various techniques used in the evaluati on of CHD with emphasis on recent developments as well as recognized clinic al applications. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.