Cardiac MRI: Fundamentals to Clinical Application
Description
Cardiac MRI is a unique diagnostic modality that is often given limited focus in medical physics educational and training programs, despite its ubiquity in clinical practice. The physics and clinical challenges inherent to cardiac MRI are a worthwhile subject of exploration. The proposed session will first provide an overview of the physics of cardiac MRI, including common pulse sequences and protocols. Current and emerging clinical applications will then be presented, including functional and flow imaging, cardiac angiography, perfusion/ischemia imaging, stress/strain evaluation, and quantitative imaging, with an emphasis on the role of imaging physicists in maintaining and improving the quality and safety of cardiac MRI. This discussion will also review currently available equipment and software, both vendor-provided and open-source, that can aid medical physicists who are involved or interested in improving the quality of cardiac MRI.