[Recent clinical applications of MR medicine as functional medical imaging in the brain and heart].

This paper reviewed recent clinical applications of MR medicine as functional imaging in the brain and heart. Functional and metabolic imaging of brain and heart can be evaluated by the development of fast MR technique (fast SE, echo planar imaging, etc) and chemical shift imaging. The clinical applications of MR medicine to the brain are follows. 1. higher nerve activity assessment using functional MRI, 2. brain perfusion imaging by dynamic contrast MRI, 3. brain diffusion imaging and 4. brain metabolic function by 1H and 31P-MRS. Those of MR medicine to the heart are as follows. 1. left ventricular function assessment by snapshot and/or echo planar imaging. 2. regional wall motion assessment by magnetic tagging, 3. myocardial perfusion imaging by dynamic contrast MRI, 4. coronary flow reserve assessment and 5. cardiac metabolic function by 31P and 1H MRS. Most of these data are thought to be compatible with nuclear medicine technique such as PET and SPECT. In the future, MR medicine may be used as the tool of functional and metabolic diagnosis in addition to anatomical diagnosis in the field of cerebral and cardiac disorders.