SCMR Level I Course Lithuania 2025-Session 4

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The session opened with a lecture on CMR phase-contrast flow imaging and velocity encoding. The speaker explained how moving protons create phase shifts in MRI, producing magnitude images for anatomy and phase images for flow quantification. Key applications include measuring blood volume and velocity, assessing valvular stenosis and regurgitation, detecting shunts in congenital heart disease, and evaluating flow in major vessels. Proper velocity encoding is essential to avoid aliasing or loss of sensitivity. Through-plane flow is used for quantification, while in-plane flow helps visualize complex jets. Advanced 3D/4D flow imaging was highlighted as increasingly useful in clinical practice.<br /><br />The next lecture focused on CMR in valvular heart disease, especially aortic and mitral regurgitation. CMR was presented as complementary to echocardiography and valuable when echo is inconclusive, symptoms and imaging disagree, or ventricular consequences need assessment. Strengths include unrestricted imaging planes, direct flow measurement, tissue characterization, and reproducible quantification. It is particularly useful for regurgitant lesions, mixed valve disease, prognosis, and procedural planning, while limitations include arrhythmia, lower temporal resolution, and difficulty with small vegetations and prosthetic valves.<br /><br />A third talk covered CMR for cardiac masses. CMR was described as superior for tissue characterization, defining location, extension, invasion, and extracardiac involvement. The lecture reviewed thrombi, myxoma, fibroelastoma, angiosarcoma, lymphoma, and metastases, emphasizing imaging features that suggest benign or malignant pathology.<br /><br />The session concluded with CMR of aortic disease and congenital heart disease. For aortopathy, MRI was shown to be valuable for aneurysm follow-up, dissection, intramural hematoma, aortitis, coarctation, bicuspid valve disease, and vascular rings. The congenital heart disease lecture stressed a systematic, anatomy-based approach, the importance of hemodynamics and shunt assessment, and the need for multidisciplinary care.

Keywords

CMR phase-contrast flow imaging

velocity encoding

phase shift MRI

blood flow quantification

valvular heart disease

aortic regurgitation

mitral regurgitation

cardiac masses

tissue characterization

aortic disease

congenital heart disease

shunt assessment

4D flow imaging