Cardiac pre-load alteration with MRI-compatible lower body suction device

Background Our group studies circulatory causes of exercise limitation in congenital heart patients with dilated right ventricle, but normal resting left ventricular ejection fraction. Cardiac MRI is the gold standard non-invasive tool for measuring heart chamber volume and blood vessel flow. We designed an MRI-compatible lower body negative pressure (LBNP) device (Image) in order to study the effect of pre-load reduction on the heart with MRI. This is a pilot study to establish our methodology.