THE NEW YORK CARDIAC CENTER

Taking pleasure in the long and fruitful association with the New York Cardiac Center, Professor Thomas J. Brady, Director of Radiology Research, acknowledges the participation provided by the NYCC in the NMR Center’s cardiac research initiative. The program is designed to develop and evaluate new CT/MR-based techniques that measure the condition of the cardiovascular system with an ultimate goal being the implementation of a suite of routine diagnostic tools for the clinician to achieve better diagnoses and treatment plans.

The first project association concentrated on developing protocols and methodologies for individual diagnostic MR-based procedures. These developments included: 1) Time of Flight flow imaging to measure the velocity of coronary blood flow, 2) Susceptibility imaging – a technique to provide information on myocardial perfusion, and 3) Strain-MR methods to measure cardiac function. These tools individually provide significant diagnostic information and when used in concert, through an Integrated CT/MR-based Cardiac Examination, have the potential to replace a series of expensive "gold standard" examinations with one cost-effective procedure. Realizing this potential will be a significant clinical advance. In a second project association, the development of these MR protocols was developed further and a series of limited clinical trials further evaluated the efficacy of these MR-based methods.

The ongoing effort continues development of the diagnostic capabilities of the CT/MR techniques through extensive clinical trials. These studies are designed to further validate research protocols measuring coronary flow, perfusion, atheroma characterization and cardiac architecture. They will lead to a better understanding of what heart failure is and the effects of the disease process on the heart.

Dr. Brady, "…commends the New York Cardiac Center for its foresight in participating in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging research, at Massachusetts General Hospital-CIMIT, at a time when this technology was considered inadequate to provide clinical data for cardiac diagnoses. The rapidly developing technologies coupled with advances in imaging methodologies have made it a leading contender as a diagnostic tool in the clinician armamentarium."

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