Software Eliminates Need for ECG During MRI

New software extracts cardiac motion information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, eliminating the need for wires and electrodes to be attached to a cardiac patient and avoiding the difficulty of obtaining a reliable electrocardiogram (ECG) signal inside the high magnetic field of an MRI system.

Techniques exist that allow cardiac exams by MRI to be acquired in real-time mode without ECG synchronization, but most exams are acquired over a series of about six to 12 successive heartbeats, so accurate synchronization of the scan with the heartbeat is essential. The new software is based on technology developed by Siemens Medical Solutions (Erlangen, Germany) in collaboration with Northwestern University (Evanston, IL, USA) and The Cleveland Clinic (OH, USA).
Initial results in a study to be published later this year suggest that the technology may offer better image quality than standard ECG synchronization.

"Self-gating makes it possible to overcome the limitations of maintaining accurate ECG signal on certain patients once and for all,” explained Richard D. White, M.D., head, section of cardiovascular imaging, division of radiology, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. "There is a wireless advantage especially for certain patients such as those with disease of the pericardial sac and patients with right heart overload.”

Siemens plans to use the same technology in respiratory gating to eliminate the need for patient breath holding during cardiac MR scans and to improve the reliability of coronary angiography exams.




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