Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) vs. acoustic imaging to assess the severity of Mitral Regurgitation

Precise estimation of the amount of blood that leaks from the left ventricle to the left atrium is necessary to assess the severity of the Mitral Regurgitation (MR). While the present gold standard to asses MR is by echocardiography, in this work we propose a new approach to estimating MR using velocity values measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The volume estimation is based on the velocity of the blood through a number of slices. In contrast to echocardiography which is based on acoustic waves, the proposed algorithm is not based on any assumption concerning the shape of the orifice through which blood flows. The proposed algorithm has been tested on MRI scans from patients with moderate-severe MR and compared to acoustic imaging results, providing results that are robust to parameters selection however underestimate the size of the leak. Our conclusion is that adjusted MRI could be an efficient robust tool to assess the severity of Mitral Regurgitation instead of acoustic imaging.