This pair of images shows a human heart from the front (left) and back (right). This special imaging technique—4D flow MRI—captures the heart’s blood flow at a single moment in time.
The blood colored red is full of oxygen, flowing out to the rest of the body, while the blood colored blue is returning to be re-oxygenated by the lungs.
With this technique, researchers can measure the speed and patterns of this flow: yellow and orange streaks move faster than dark red; pale blue moves faster than dark blue. They are examining this particular heart because the patient had surgery (for a heart defect) and they want to help monitor their heart health.

Kelly Jarvis

Departments of Radiology + Biomedical Engineering

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) + 4D flow visualization