Search

The environmental impact of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently come into focus. This includes its enormous demand for electricity compared to other imaging modalities and contamination of water bodies with anthropogenic gadolinium related to contrast administration. Given the pressing threat of climate change, addressing these challenges to improve the environmental sustainability of MRI is imperative. The purpose of this review is to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and the need for action to reduce the environmental impact of MRI and prepare for the effects of climate change. The approaches outlined are categorized as strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from MRI during production and use phases, approaches to reduce the environmental impact of MRI including the preservation of finite resources, and development of adaption plans to prepare for the impact of climate change. Co‐benefits of these strategies are emphasized including lower GHG emission and reduced cost along with improved heath and patient satisfaction. Although MRI is energy‐intensive, there are many steps that can be taken now to improve the environmental sustainability of MRI and prepare for the effects of climate change. On‐going research, technical development, and collaboration with industry partners are needed to achieve further reductions in MRI‐related GHG emissions and to decrease the reliance on finite resources. Level of Evidence: 5 Technical Efficacy: Stage 6 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With improvements in surgical and medical management, patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are often living well into adulthood. MRI provides critical data for diagnosis and monitoring of these patients, yielding information on cardiac anatomy, blood flow, and cardiac function. Though historically these exams have been complex and lengthy, four-dimensional (4D) flow is emerging as a single fast technique for comprehensive assessment of CHD. The 4D flow consists of a volumetric time-resolved acquisition that is gated to the cardiac cycle, providing a time-varying vector field of blood flow as well as registered anatomic images. In this article, we provide an overview of MRI evaluation of congenital heart disease by means of example of three relatively common representative conditions: tetralogy of Fallot, aortic coarctation, and anomalous pulmonary venous drainage. Then 4D flow data acquisition, data correction, and postprocessing techniques are reviewed. We conclude with several examples that highlight the comprehensive nature of the evaluation of congenital heart disease with 4D flow.

The authors identified 102 publications including individual case reports and cases series with a total of 468 patients with suspected myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination. Relatively mild imaging abnormalities in conjunction with no adverse cardiac events, raises the possibility that myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination might have a favorable prognosis despite the persistence of minimal LGE. Editorial for "Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Myocarditis: A Pooled Analysis of 468 Patients". [Extracted from the article]