Real-time interactive magnetic resonance imaging with multiple coils for the assessment of left ventricular function

Interactive real-time examination of left ventricular function in healthy v olunteers both under rest and stress conditions has been performed. For thi s purpose, a system combining an interactive user interface, an ultrafast s egmented echo-planar imaging sequence, and real-time reconstruction and dis play of the acquired images was designed. Magnetic resonance images were ac quired at rates of up to 20 images per second with multiple receiver coils. By using a sliding window reconstruction technique, reconstruction rates o f up to 60 images per second were achieved with a latency of < 100 msec. Th e quality of the real-time images was evaluated both qualitatively and quan titatively and was found to be appropriate for the determination of left ve ntricular function. It is concluded that the combination of dedicated compo nents provides a convenient modality for the high-quality visualization of left ventricular function under rest and stress conditions at video frame r ates with magnetic resonance imaging. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.