Cardiac Input - Measuring Cardiac Output - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Velocity encoded phase contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the most accurate technique for measuring flow in large vessels in mammals. MRI flow measurements have been shown to be highly accurate compared to measurements with a beaker and timer and less variable than both the Fick principle and thermodilution.

Velocity encoded MRI is based on detection of changes in the phase of proton precession. These changes are proportional to the velocity of the movement of those protons through a magnetic field with a known gradient. When using velocity encoded MRI, the result of the MRI scan is two sets of images for each time point in the cardiac cycle. One is an anatomical image and the other is an image where the signal intensity in each pixel is directly proportional to the through-plane velocity. The average velocity in a vessel, i.e. the aorta or the pulmonary artery, is hence quantified by measuring the average signal intensity of the pixels in the cross section of the vessel, and then multiplying by a known constant. The flow is calculated by multiplying the mean velocity by the cross-sectional area of the vessel. This flow data can be used to graph flow versus time. The area under the flow versus time curve for one cardiac cycle is the stroke volume. The length of the cardiac cycle is known and determines heart rate, and thereby Q can be calculated as the product of stroke volume and heart rate. MRI is typically used to quantify the flow over one cardiac cycle as the average of several heart beats, but it is also possible to quantify the stroke volume in real time on a beat-for-beat basis.

While MRI is an important research tool for accurately measuring Q, it is currently not clinically used for hemodynamic monitoring in the emergency or intensive care setting. Cardiac output measurement by MRI is currently routinely used as a part of clinical cardiac MRI examinations.