Abdalla A. Elagha1, Roderic I. Pettigrew1, Ahmed M. Gharib1
1NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
Assessment of the interatrial septum has become an important requirement for the diagnosis of variety of l diseases, and for preplanning of a variety of interventional procedures demands precise characterization of the septum. Multi-detector CT has been shown as a valuable tool for the assessment of the IAS morphology, however, requires the use of radiation and potentially nephrotoxic contrast agents. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibly of using a free breathing 3 dimensional technique at 3T and to compare the IAS measurements from this method to CT. Linear regression analysis demonstrates the close relationship between measurements obtained using MRI and MSCT. Whole heart 3D MRI using free-breathing technique with contrast was feasible in all subjects, and allow for clear assessment of the IAS morphology and measurements, that was not significantly different from high resolution CT imaging, and without exposure to radiation hazards.