Abstract
The authors used magnetic resonance - a diagnostic imaging method without ionizing radiation - to examine 52 children with inborn heart disease. The children were 4 to 18 years old.
The majority of anomalies - in 36 children, i.e. 69%, were malformations of the large vessels, in three children they examined syndromes associated with abnormal positions of the heart and in five intracardiac changes. In eight - in 15%, the anomalies were not confirmed.
For visualization they used as a routine a T2-weighted image (T2W/TSE) in transverse planes, supplemented in anomalies of the aorta by examination in the longitudinal plane parallel with the course of the aortic arch, and a Tl-weighted image (TIW/TFE). Reconstruction of the images was guided by impulses from the peripheral arteries recorded by a pulsed oximeter.
The described technique could be supplemented in indicated cases by further sequences, but they were sufficient for the basic diagnosis. The authors recommend therefore as the basis of diagnostic imaging the phenomenon of magnetic resonance.