Today we can not only take images of heart and blood vessels, but also of the blood flow itself. This allows us to look at the cardiovascular disease from very different and new perspective.
Historically, diagnostic flow measurements have been performed invasively in catheterization lab. With this new imaging technology known as 4D-Flow MRI, we can both measure the flow and also look at flow from a qualitative perspective.
4D-Flow MRI gives such a large pool of information, that we are hopeful to use this technology for diagnostic measurement and replace some of the invasive procedures carried in the catheterization lab. This would spare our patients with pulmonary hypertension and other cardiac lesions of anesthesia, invasive procedure, and reduce their general hospital stay.
Michal Schafer, PhD
Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado 2019
Cardiac Climbers Cycling Team for the Courage Classic Tour 