‘Massive leap forward’: 4D MRI helps diagnose prenatal congenital heart disease
A new magnetic resonance imaging approach helps clinicians visualize baby’s hearts in 4D. The novel method may become the superior imaging choice for diagnosing congenital heart disease.
King’s College London researchers described their findings Oct. 5 in Nature Communications. While the technique is standard for adult imaging, it’s a brand new approach in this patient population.
And with further refinements, it may help when conventional ultrasound can’t do the job, Tom Roberts, with King College’s School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, explained Monday.
"The results in the paper are exciting because no one has been able to look at the fetal heart using MRI in four dimensions like this," Roberts added in a statement. "When we give these videos of the beating heart to the doctors, they are able to interact and examine the direction of blood flow instantly."
Currently, diagnosing CHD relies on ultrasound to determine whether the heart has developed incorrectly. These measurements, however, can be unreliable, especially given that there are some disease pathologies that are more complicated to diagnose than others.
This novel MRI, combined with a motion-correcting framework, allows researchers to gather a series of 3D images depicting blood vessels which are then transformed into a 4D video of a baby’s beating heart.
If providers can detect CHD before a child is born, the authors explained, doctors can begin life-saving care immediately after birth. This also gives parents critical time to prepare for the situation, which is often quite stressful, according to co-author of the study, Kuberan Pushparajah, a senior lecturer in pediatric cardiology at King’s College.
“The technical challenges that have been overcome by the team in this work represent a massive leap forward in the field of fetal cardiac MRI," he added. "We will now be able to simultaneously study the heart structures and track blood flow through it as it beats using MRI for the very first time."
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.