Higgins C B, Lanzer P, Stark D, Botvinick E, Schiller N B, Lipton M J, Crooks L E, Kaufman L
J Am Coll Cardiol. 1985 Jan;5(1 Suppl):77S-81S. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(85)80147-9.
Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging has emerged in the past few years as a completely noninvasive method for medical imaging of internal organs. Because of the loss of signal intensity by motional nuclei (hydrogen) using most proton imaging techniques, flowing blood within the cardiovascular system generates little or no signal and consequently there is high natural contrast between blood and the walls of blood vessels or cardiac chambers. However, motion during imaging also complicates cardiac imaging because signal is lost from the nuclei in the moving cardiac structures. Consequently electrocardiographic gating of data acquisition is required for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the heart. Distinct advantages of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging in relation to other imaging modalities are good contrast between soft tissues and the capability for characterization of specific tissues by estimation of magnetic relaxation times. Early in vitro studies measuring relaxation times of myocardial tissue samples of excised hearts indicate that nuclear magnetic resonance imaging will be capable of discriminating infarcted from normal myocardium. Recent studies using electrocardiographically gated nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of dogs with acute infarction showed the infarct as a region of high intensity on spin-echo images. Initial clinical experience with electrocardiographically gated nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (0.35 tesla) in patients has clearly defined internal cardiac anatomy without the use of contrast media. This technique has demonstrated the consequence of previous myocardial infarction such as regional wall thinning, aneurysm, thrombus and contractile dysfunction, a number of pericardial abnormalities and the morphology of hypertrophic and congestive cardiomyopathies.
核磁共振成像在过去几年中已成为一种用于内部器官医学成像的完全非侵入性方法。由于使用大多数质子成像技术时运动原子核（氢）会导致信号强度损失，心血管系统内流动的血液产生的信号很少或没有信号，因此血液与血管壁或心腔之间存在很高的自然对比度。然而，成像过程中的运动也使心脏成像变得复杂，因为运动的心脏结构中的原子核会失去信号。因此，心脏的核磁共振成像需要对数据采集进行心电图门控。与其他成像方式相比，核磁共振成像的明显优势在于软组织之间具有良好的对比度，并且能够通过估计磁弛豫时间来表征特定组织。早期对切除心脏的心肌组织样本进行弛豫时间测量的体外研究表明，核磁共振成像将能够区分梗死心肌和正常心肌。最近使用心电图门控核磁共振成像对患有急性梗死的犬进行的研究显示，在自旋回波图像上梗死区为高强度区域。对患者进行心电图门控核磁共振成像（0.35特斯拉）的初步临床经验已在不使用造影剂的情况下清晰地界定了心脏内部结构。这项技术已显示出先前心肌梗死的后果，如局部心肌变薄、动脉瘤、血栓和收缩功能障碍、一些心包异常以及肥厚型和充血型心肌病的形态。
