The paediatric cardiology research group has a strong focus on rapid implementation of the newest MRI technology into clinical practice. Our research aims to develop novel imaging methods to improve diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease. The main areas of research are:
- Morphological assessment of the heart and great vessels
- Post processing of 3D MRI datasets
- Functional assessment of the heart and great vessels using dual-phase 3D MRI, 2D phase-contrast flow imaging by CMR, and 4D phase-contrast flow imaging by CMR
- Determination of pulmonary vascular resistance by MR guided cardiac catheterization
- XMR for cardiovascular interventions in congenital heart disease
Rapid advances in the field of MRI have developed this modality to the extent that it can now be used to guide interventions such as MRI – cardiac catheterization technology (XMR). There are many benefits of MRI over conventional x-ray based interventions, particularly in children, who have an increased risk of exposure to ionizing radiation (from x-ray) if the exposure occurs at five years of age.
Researchers within the Division have developed new techniques for advanced motion correction. This is important for providing reliable flow quantification within the whole heart and great thoracic vessels over the entire cardiac cycle. This method holds great potential to simplify a hemodynamic cardiac MR investigation, particularly in complex congenital heart disease, and may generally constitute an important new tool to study cardiovascular pathophysiology.