Cardiac magnetic resonance fingerprinting: Trends in technical development and potential clinical applications

Quantitative cardiac magnetic resonance has emerged in recent years as an approach for evaluating a range of cardiovascular conditions, with T₁ and T₂ mapping at the forefront of these developments. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (cMRF) provides a rapid and robust framework for simultaneous quantification of myocardial T₁ and T₂ in addition to other tissue properties. Since the advent of cMRF, a number of technical developments and clinical validation studies have been reported. This review provides an overview of cMRF, recent technical developments, healthy subject and patient studies, anticipated technical improvements, and potential clinical applications. Recent technical developments include slice profile and pulse efficiency corrections, improvements in image reconstruction, simultaneous multislice imaging, 3D whole-ventricle imaging, motion-resolved imaging, fat–water separation, and machine learning for rapid dictionary generation. Future technical developments in cMRF, such as B₀ and B₁ field mapping, acceleration of acquisition and reconstruction, imaging of patients with implanted devices, and quantification of additional tissue properties are also described. Potential clinical applications include characterization of infiltrative, inflammatory, and ischemic cardiomyopathies, tissue characterization in the left atrium and right ventricle, post-cardiac transplantation assessment, reduction of contrast material, pre-procedural planning for electrophysiology interventions, and imaging of patients with implanted devices.