title: 3-D cardiac MRI in free-breathing newborns and infants: when is respiratory gating necessary?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Newborns and small infants have shallow breathing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To suggest criteria for when respiratory gating is necessary during cardiac MRI in newborns and infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred ten data sets of newborns and infants with (n = 92, mean age: 1.9 ± 1.7 [SD] years) and without (n = 18, mean age: 1.6 ± 1.8 [SD] years) navigator gating were analysed retrospectively. The respiratory motion of the right hemidiaphragm was recorded and correlated to age, weight, body surface area and qualitative image quality on a 4-point score. Quantitative image quality assessment was performed (sharpness of the delineation of the ventricular septal wall) as well as a matched-pair comparison between navigator-gated and non-gated data sets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were found in overall image quality or in the sharpness of the ventricular septal wall between gated and non-gated scans. A navigator acceptance of >80% was frequently found in patients ages <12 months, body surface area <0.40 m(2), body weight <10 kg and a size of <80 cm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sequences without respiratory gating may be used in newborns and small infants, in particular if age <12 months, body surface area <0.40 m(2), body weight <10 kg and height <80 cm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seeger
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Krumm
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.forename: Jürgen F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Ludger
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sieverding
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D012119:Respiration; D012189:Retrospective Studies