Cardiac interventions guided by magnetic resonance imaging

Mortality rates in patients with congenital heart disease have decreased significantly over the past decades. However, many of these patients require long-term care and repeated cardiac interventional or surgical procedures. This requires the development of optimized diagnostic tools that are better able to guide therapy, the establishment of non ionizing and less invasive interventional methods, and the progressive replacement of surgical by transcatheter techniques. Interventional magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) has the potential to make important steps towards these goals. This review presents the current situation and expected future developments in the field of iMRI, with a focus on congenital heart diseases. Heart Metab. 2007;34:19–23.