UTE Imaging for Rapid Whole-Body Central Vascular Access Assessment in Children and Young Adults Undergoing Cardiac Surgery

Motivation: The motivation for this study is to propose an alternative and more efficient imaging protocol for vascular access assessment for complex congenital heart disease (CHD) casesGoal(s): To determine if UTE imaging can provide a supplemental tool to conventional MR imaging for evaluating vascular access in the context of CHD. Approach: Selection of 15 patients undergoing pre-operative assessment for complex CHD, including ferumoxytol administration, implement a 3D UTE sequence and a quality scoring scale. Results: The study concludes that UTE imaging is a time-efficient method to visualize vascular anomalies, patency, occlusion, and access, and it can complement MRI planning for cardiovascular procedures. Impact: Our study demonstrates that UTE imaging with ferumoxytol can provide high-quality vascular access imaging for patients with complex CHD. This offers an improved diagnostic tool for assessing vascular access as an important addition to the tools available for CHD evaluation.