Children’s Hospital Los Angeles opens new cardiac imaging suite

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has opened a cardiac imaging suite, which now houses the only low-field MRI machine at a pediatric hospital in the United States.

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Low-field MRI can accommodate motion, making it a “game changer for pediatric and fetal imaging,” according to a Feb. 5 news release from the hospital. 

A team led by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ director of cardiovascular MRI, John Wood, MD, PhD, was the first in the world to use low-field MRI to perform real-time imaging of a human fetal heart, without the need for cardiac synchronization, the release said. 

In addition to a Siemens low-field MRI machine, the imaging suite includes a Siemens Sola 1.5 Tesla MRI machine, five patient prep and recovery bays, an anesthesia induction room, specialized stress testing for myocardial perfusion and space for a future cardiac CT scanner.

Editor’s note: This article was updated Feb. 6, 2025 at 8:08 p.m. CT.

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