AutoCMR: democratizing access to cardiac MRI with a push-button 4D isotropic whole thoracic automated exam

Motivation: With complicated protocols requiring specialized training for both acquisition and analysis, access to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is generally limited to academic hospitals. Goal(s): Our goal is to provide a push-button CMR exam (AutoCMR) with 4D isotropic cine and delayed enhancement imaging and integrated analysis that can be deployed in a community setting. Approach: AutoCMR was compared to clinical CMR for 100 patients at an academic hospital and 10 patients at a community health center with no prior CMR capability. Results: AutoCMR brought cardiac imaging to a community hospital, providing images, functional analysis, and tissue characterization that were comparable to clinical CMR. Impact: Our 4D isotropic AutoCMR exam enables cardiac MRI with functional analysis and tissue characterization at the push of a button, demonstrating potential to improve access by facilitating cardiac MRI at academic hospitals and community health centers alike.