Magnetic resonance imaging and its applicability in veterinary cardiology

José Manuel de Seiça Ferreira

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/17490

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Authors

José Manuel de Seiça Ferreira

Advisor(s)

Vieira, Maria João Nobre de Matos Pereira

Abstract(s)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a technique whereby images are created by the manipulation of hydrogen atoms in magnetic fields; it is based on the principle of nuclear magnetic resonance (MR), which is non-invasive and non-ionising (Constantine, Shan, Flamm, & Sivananthan, 2004). Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMRI) uses the same principle: application of magnetic-field gradients that are adjusted to highlight desired tissue characteristics, producing a variety of sequences that allow detection of cardiac tissue and blood, and consequently anatomical and/or physiological abnormalities (Jeudy & White, 2008; Constantine et al., 2004). Basic pulse sequences used in CMRI are spin-echo and gradient-echo sequences, or their faster hybrids dark- or black-blood and bright-blood respectively (Constantine et al., 2004). CMRI is rapidly developing and is now an important diagnostic tool in human clinical cardiology (Gilbert, McConnell, Holden, Sivananthan, & Dukes-McEwan, 2010). In veterinary medicine the use of CMRI is still sporadic; its limitations in this field include the need for general anaesthesia, the cost and availability of the equipment, the steep learning curve to obtain and analyse the images, and the time needed to manually trace endocardial borders if semi-automated analysis is not available (MacDonald, Kittleson, Garcia-Nolen, Larson, & Wisner, 2006). CMRI was considered to be the reference method in many veterinary studies (Eskofier, Wefstaedt, Beyerbach, Nolte, & Hungerbuhler, 2015; Fattal et al., 2015; Sargent et al., 2015). Still, not many studies have been published or made available in this field. It is therefore essential to fully ascertain the clinical applications, advantages and limitations of CMRI in veterinary medicine. The aim of this review is to identify the potential applications of CMRI from a clinical point of view and compare it with echocardiography, which is still the gold standard in veterinary cardiology. We describe the principles and technique of MRI in small animal cardiology, and the diseases in which CMRI could be an important tool for diagnosis and prognosis.