Quantitative assessment of myocardial perfusion by magnetic resonance imaging in the isolated porcine heart

Background Perfusion imaging visualizes early changes within the ischaemic cascade and has been shown to accurately detect significant coronary artery stenoses. First pass myocardial perfusion CMR yields high spatial resolution and permits quantification of myocardial blood flow. However, perfusion-CMR has only been validated in a small number of previous studies and using relatively early perfusion methods. An isolated blood-perfused MR compatible porcine heart model which can be imaged by identical equipment used for humans has been recently proposed. The model permits full control of regional myocardial blood flow, thus providing a valuable tool for the validation of quantitative perfusion assessment.