Magnetic resonance imaging 3 Tesla

It allows accurate evaluation of the cardiac chambers and heart muscle, as well as the valves and large extracardiac vessels.

Detailed images

The 3 Tesla (high magnetic field intensity) MRI operating at the Cardiocentro Ticino Institute provides detailed and extremely sharp images, allowing all anatomical districts of the human body to be studied with great precision, even those that are more difficult to access by other MRI equipment with lower magnetic fields.

In the cardiovascular field, the areas in which nuclear magnetic resonance is unrivaled are mainly two: quantitative evaluation of the heart chambers and evaluation of the structure of the heart muscle. Due to the high natural contrast between muscle and blood and the unlimited number of scan planes, it is possible to study and measure the cardiac chambers with absolute precision (cardiac MRI is considered the reference technique).

In addition, using a special contrast agent (gadolinium), it is possible to define the composition of the heart walls with extreme precision and to distinguish scar tissue from normal myocardium. In acute infarction it is possible to distinguish edematous, hemorrhagic, necrotic, and nonnecrotic territory. Finally, it is also possible to have information about the heart valves and extracardiac large vessels. Cardiac MRI is the only technique that allows such a broad spectrum of information with a single examination.

Useful information

How it is carried out

No preparation is required. The patient is placed lying on the MR table, and in about 20 to 30 minutes the necessary images are acquired. Noise is heard during the examination (protective ear muffs are provided) and a feeling of warmth may be experienced.
Because of the presence of a magnetic field, women of childbearing age are asked about whether they are pregnant to assess the risk/benefit ratio.

Contraindications

Patients with pacemarkers, neurostimulators, cochlear implants, intra-orbital metal foreign bodies or intra-cranial vascular clips, some old heart valves. It is recommended to inform the radiology staff promptly of the presence of any devices in your body in order to verify their compatibility with the examination. Surgical clips or staples previously implanted in other parts of the body (chest, abdomen or pelvis in particular) are not a problem. No contraindications either for medical prostheses (hip, knee or other), which, however, may reduce the quality of the examination depending on their location.

The English version of this page was created with the aid of automatic translation tools and may contain errors and omissions.
The original version is the page in Italian.