Breathhold cardiac MRI and MRA.

Recent developments in MRI software and hardware have increased the speed and versatility of cardiac MRI by allowing image acquisition in a single breathhold. Many studies have shown that conventional cardiac MRI is as accurate as echocardiography or cardiac catheterization for diagnosing numerous cardiac conditions. In many cases cardiac MRI is the most accurate diagnostic technique but has not been widely adopted for routine cardiac imaging. One reason why the use of cardiac MRI has been limited is the long examination times required for conventional cardiac MRI. The development of better hardware, such as faster gradient amplifiers and dedicated surface coils, has allowed the implementation of much faster EKG-gated imaging sequences. These can be used in a single breathhold period, with a significant improvement in image quality compared with conventional sequences. Breathhold sequences can provide all the information provided by conventional cardiac MRI in a shorter time and with equal or better accuracy. Breathhold imaging will allow much wider application of MRI to routine cardiac diagnosis.