Cardiac Imaging
Jill Jacobs, MD, Section Chief
The Cardiac Imaging Section provides clinical cardiac imaging services using the latest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) technologies. Among the equipment available for cardiac imaging are several high performance MRI systems, including a high-field 3-tesla imaging system, and a high-speed, high-resolution multi-detector CT (MDCT), including a new 64-detector row system.
Both cardiac MRI and CT can be used to provide high quality cross-sectional images of the heart and the great vessels, in any desired orientation. Both modalities are useful for evaluating anatomic cardiac abnormalities, such as cardiac masses or congenital heart disease. MRI additionally provides excellent dynamic and quantitative information on cardiac function and on large vessel and cardiac chamber blood flow. MRI is also very effective for detection of scarring of the heart wall, which can be valuable in the evaluation of myocardial viability for planning the treatment of coronary artery disease. CT provides better images of the coronary arteries than MRI, and it can be very helpful in screening for atherosclerotic coronary artery disease as well as for evaluating coronary anomalies.
The Cardiac Imaging section provides a regular interdisciplinary cardiac imaging conference, as well as a series of resident teaching lectures. In addition, the section participates in cardiac imaging conferences in Adult and Pediatric Cardiology.
The section is involved in a variety of research projects aimed at developing new cardiac imaging and image analysis methods.
