Visualization of aortic valve leaflets using black blood MRI

Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is capable of imaging various phy siological parameters associated with the heart valves, it has generally be en difficult to visualize the valve leaflets directly. The aortic valve was imaged in 120 patients referred for cardiac MRI to assess myocardial volum es or mass. The average patient age was 37 and ranged from 9 to 75 years, H eart rate ranged from 43 to 100 bpm, Imaging was performed on a 1.5 T scann er equipped with enhanced gradients and a cardiac phased-array coil, A doub le inversion recovery fast spin-echo sequence was used to acquire short-axi s images of the aortic valve in a breathhold (15 +/- 3 seconds). All three leaflets of the aortic valve were seen in 102 of 120 studies (85%), Two lea nets were detected in another 15 subjects. No leaflets were seen in three i ndividuals. Seven cases of a bicuspid or thickened aortic valves were clear ly distinguished from normal valves, The signal-to-noise ratio of aortic le aflets (14 +/- 5) was significantly higher than that of the residual blood signal in the aortic root (7 +/- 4, P < 0.001). MR images showed the aortic valve leaflets in a high fraction of people with suspected normal aortic v alves and detected seven cases of abnormal aortic valves. The potential of MRI to study both the anatomic and functional consequences of valvular hear t disease warrants further study. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.