CMR Essentials course

Syllabus

Essential knowledge

Cardiac anatomy and views, ventricular function, wall thickness, coronary anatomy, infarct patterns and late enhancement.

1. 🫀Lesson 1FreeCardiac topography

   How the heart sits in the chest, what the cardiac axes are, and how the LV walls and 17 segments are named.

   ≈ 21 min · 8 topics · 2 videos · 10 questions

   • •An inverted pyramid
   • •Three levels: basal, mid and apical
   • •What are the cardiac axes?
   • •Left and right long axes
   • •The three myocardial layers
   • •Four walls and six segments
   • •The 17 segments
   • •Segments from different axes
2. 🧭Lesson 2Left ventricular axes

   Which walls and segments each LV long axis (4C, 3C and 2C) cuts, and how to spot a misaligned plane.

   ≈ 18 min · 6 topics · 3 videos · 6 questions

   • •The 4C, 3C and 2C long axes
   • •4-chamber (4C)
   • •3-chamber (3C)
   • •2-chamber (2C)
   • •2-chamber is not bicommissural
   • •Long axes on the bullseye
3. ➡️Lesson 3Right axes

   The long axes of the right heart: RV 2C and 3C and the RV outflow tract, how to plan them and how they look on cine.

   ≈ 22 min · 8 topics · 13 videos · 11 questions

   • •The right long axes
   • •RV 2-chamber
   • •RV 3-chamber
   • •RV outflow tract: sagittal
   • •The RV 3C and the sagittal RVOT
   • •RV outflow tract: “axial”
   • •Higher-quality RV cines
   • •Dedicated RV protocol (arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy)
4. 📈Lesson 4Systolic function

   Ejection fraction, volumes, how to contour and how to check that the numbers make sense.

   ≈ 17 min · 6 topics · 3 videos · 9 questions

   • •More than the ejection fraction
   • •Ejection fraction (EF %)
   • •Left and right EF
   • •Contour the whole stack
   • •Trabeculae and papillary muscles
   • •Visual estimate of EF
5. 🧩Lesson 5Regional function

   Wall motion: normokinesia, hypokinesia, akinesia and dyskinesia, how they relate to LGE, and pseudodyskinesia.

   ≈ 17 min · 6 topics · 7 videos · 10 questions

   • •Regional wall motion
   • •Types of wall motion
   • •Two-chamber examples
   • •Wall motion and LGE
   • •Practice: two cases
   • •Pseudodyskinesia (PDK)
6. 📏Lesson 6Wall thickness

   Why LV wall thickness matters, its causes and thresholds, how to measure it well and which patterns and pitfalls to look for.

   ≈ 26 min · 9 topics · 16 questions

   • •LV wall thickness
   • •Thresholds
   • •How to measure
   • •Calipers, chords and Laplace
   • •Thickness gradient
   • •Indexing wall thickness
   • •Distribution of thickness
   • •Thickness ≠ mass
   • •Pseudo-thickening
7. 👑Lesson 7Basic coronary anatomy

   The coronary arteries and their branches, dominance, why the lesion level does not always match the infarct level, and coronary plaque.

   ≈ 17 min · 6 topics · 10 questions

   • •The coronary arteries
   • •Coronary branches
   • •Coronary dominance
   • •Lesion level and infarct level
   • •Coronary plaque and vulnerability
   • •Plaque disruption and imaging
8. 💔Lesson 8Infarct patterns

   Which segments an infarct involves depending on the artery and the level of occlusion: proximal, mid and distal LAD, the PDA and dominance, and how to tell the RCA from the Cx, with cine and LGE cases.

   ≈ 26 min · 9 topics · 16 questions

   • •How to read an infarct pattern
   • •Proximal LAD infarction
   • •Proximal LAD cases
   • •Mid and distal LAD infarction
   • •Mid and distal LAD cases
   • •The PDA and dominance
   • •Inferior infarction: RCA or Cx?
   • •Case: inferior and RV infarction
   • •Segments with shared supply
9. 🔬Lesson 9Myocardial fibrosis and late enhancement

   Replacement and interstitial fibrosis, ischaemic and non-ischaemic late enhancement and its patterns, LGE mimics and quantification.

   ≈ 33 min · 11 topics · 22 questions

   • •Two types of fibrosis
   • •Replacement versus interstitial
   • •Enhancement by layer
   • •Ischaemic LGE: groups I to IV
   • •Transmural extent and functional recovery
   • •Non-ischaemic LGE: non-specific or suggestive
   • •Suggestive non-ischaemic patterns
   • •Other LGE features
   • •LGE mimics
   • •Coronary arteries that mimic LGE
   • •Quantifying fibrosis

Planning

Protocols and sequences, localisers and view planning, the simulator and the calculators.

10. 📋Lesson 10Protocols and sequences

    How a CMR protocol is built around the clinical question, what each sequence is for, what it looks like and what it is called on Siemens, GE, Philips and Canon.

    ≈ 23 min · 8 topics · 1 video · 14 questions

    • •Clinical CMR protocols
    • •Basic cardiomyopathy protocol
    • •An example, step by step
    • •What each sequence is for
    • •What each sequence looks like
    • •How each one is acquired
    • •What each vendor calls them
    • •Fast cardiomyopathy protocol (COR 5)
11. 🎯Lesson 11Localisers and planning

    From localisers and pilots to the final LV axes: the two-reference recipe for the 3C, 4C and 2C, the LV outflow tract and the full short-axis stack.

    ≈ 31 min · 12 topics · 11 videos · 14 questions

    • •Localisers (LOCS)
    • •Bright blood and black blood
    • •Pilot planes
    • •Why plan in diastole?
    • •Pilot 2C and pilot 4C
    • •Pilot short axis
    • •Using references
    • •Planning the 4C
    • •A 4C angled too far
    • •Planning the 2C
    • •LV outflow tract (LVOT)
    • •The full short-axis stack
12. 🎮Lesson 12CMR simulator

    Practise the two-reference recipe: plan the 3C, 4C and 2C in the simulator and earn a medal for the accuracy of each plane.

    ≈ 10 min

13. Lesson 13Calculators

    Practise with four everyday CMR calculators: gadolinium dose by weight and kidney function, adenosine infusion, extracellular volume (ECV) and indexed ventricular volumes.

    ≈ 15 min · 5 topics · 9 questions

    • •Four calculators for everyday CMR
    • •Gadolinium dose and kidney function
    • •Programming the adenosine infusion
    • •Calculating ECV from T1 maps
    • •Body surface area and indexed volumes
14. 🕹️Coming soonCMR simulation moduleA simulator to practise the cardiac MR exam on a virtual patient: plan the views and adjust the sequences while seeing the effect on the image.See the mock-up →