The Role of MRI in Preclinical and Clinical Functional Quantification and Modelling

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide a wealth of information on the status and functional performance of the heart owing to its exceptional ability to modulate contrast according to a number of diverse mechanisms. Morphological information is readily available on the shape and motion of the heart, typically from balanced steady-state free precession cine images. Displacement and strain can be quantified from tracking boundaries in the cine images, but regional tissue strain is best quantified with magnetic tagging or phase contrast displacement-encoded images. Flow and fluid dynamics can be obtained from velocity-sensitive phase contrast acquisitions in one-dimensional real time ungated imaging, two-dimensional planar imaging in a breath-hold, or three-dimensional volume cine imaging gated to respiration. Pre-clinical investigations have been fundamental to our understanding of cardiac mechanics. Clinical investigations offer unparalleled detail and coverage, without the need for ionizing radiation. However, MRI is slow relative to computed tomography or ultrasound, and cannot image near metal implants or electronic devices. Despite these limitations, MRI is now being used in several large scale epidemiological studies investigating the development of heart disease, including the UK Biobank, which will provide cardiac MRI data in 100,000 individuals by 2021.