Cardiovascular Research Group

For studies of cardiac function, the CRG has developed a rapid 4D tagged imaging sequence, which combined with 3D optical flow analysis (OFM) allows direct tracking of myocardial deformation. Accurate quantification of the motion and deformation of the intact myocardium is fundamental to understanding cardiac mechanics, improving diagnosis and developing treatments.

MR imaging has also been used to assess infarct size in vivo. From makers placed on the epicardial surface, infarct size is estimated from 3D models by integrating the volume bounded by the markers.

Whole heart high temporal and spatial resolution myocardial perfusion from MR first pass enhancement images are being applied to the study of myocardial infarction.

Many of the tools developed by CRG for cardiovascular research have been applied to other applications such as breast DCE-MRI, lung perfusion, lung nodule detection and head and neck tumor classification.