Magnetic resonance imaging for quantitation of right ventricular volume in patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Evaluation of right ventricular function in patients with right-sided heart failure is difficult because of the complex anatomy of the right ventricle; the distinct geometry of the dilating, failing right ventricle; its variance from the typical oblate spheroid shape used to model the left ventricle; associated cardiac lesions in patients with right ventricular failure (including tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation); and the inherent risk of conventional contrast ventriculography. With magnetic resonance techniques, tomographic images of the heart may be obtained at multiple points in the cardiac cycle without the use of intravascular contrast agents. From the end-diastolic and end-systolic images, chamber volume may then be determined directly without any modeling assumptions as to the geometry of the ventricular chamber.