Heart operation using MRI is world first (UK)

A British six-year-old boy has become the first person in the world to have a heart valve widened using an MRI scan for guidance rather than X-ray imaging. Jack Walborn was born with the heart condition pulmonary valve stenosis, which reduces blood flow to the lungs. Using MRI means patients are not exposed to radiation - particularly important for children. The scan also provides a clearer image, and information about the body's tissues, in real time during surgery - BBC

Artery highlighter could reveal heart attack risk

"MRI scans could soon be used to show who is at risk of a heart attack. At the moment the only way is to use an invasive probe that can itself trigger cardiac arrest. A major cause of heart attacks is plaques made of immune cells and cholesterol that build up inside the coronary arteries, which feed the heart. If a plaque ruptures, a clot can form, blocking blood flow with potentially catastrophic results. While cameras can be sent into arteries to check the walls for plaques, the probe itself might rupture a plaque. An MRI scan can see inside the body without risk, but doesn't provide enough resolution to image artery walls directly. However, Simon Robinson of Lantheus Medical Imaging in North Billerica, Massachusetts, and his colleagues found a way around this using gadolinium chelate, a substance which is already used to light up blood in MRI scans" - NewScientist

Heart beats in Monterey County diagnosed in Japan

"Reyes Mendoza breathed deeply, listening to music as an MRI scanned his heart Tuesday. In the next room, Dr. Timothy Albert, a cardiac specialist with Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, and a lab technician looked on as three-dimensional images appeared on the computer. Joining them through video conference more than 5,000 miles and 17 hours away in Japan, Dr. Bei Xhang looked at the same images and manipulated the MRI to capture more scans of Mendoza's heart and arteries. "There is definitely an art to it," Albert said of the MRI's ability to take detailed images of beating hearts, blood flow, and the body's network of blood vessels. The scan was the first time SVMH and its partner, electronics company Toshiba, connected remotely with another doctor through the new MRI at SVMH's Cardiovascular Diagnostic Center at Ryan Ranch, said Bob Giegerich, director of Toshiba's MRI business unit." - Salinas Californian