MR evaluation of cardiovascular physiology in congenital heart disease: flow and function.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has become the method of choice in the evaluation of a number of questions in congenital heart disease. In addition to morphology, modern CMR techniques allow the visualization of function and flow in a temporally resolved manner. Among the pathologies where these methods play a major role are shunts, septal defects, aortic coarctation, anomalies of the pulmonary arteries, and valvular regurgitation. This paper explains the basics of functional and flow encoded CMR and discusses their application in the assessment of several types of congenital heart disease.