Cardiac MRI at low field strengths

Cardiac MRI is among the most informative heart scans available — and among the least accessible, gated behind expensive high-field magnets. This review covers a quieter countertrend: making it work at low field strength.

The pitch is access. Modern low-field systems, the authors report, now produce measurements that agree closely with conventional high-field MRI, while costing less and — because lower field strength means fewer artifacts — handling patients who are hard to image otherwise, including those with metal implants or larger bodies. A few applications may actually be better at low field.

The practical implication is reach: a path to cardiac MRI for patients and settings that high-field machines exclude. The resistance is commercial, from manufacturers and centers invested in high-field installations.

We rate the evidence low: an 82-reference narrative review of an emerging area with early validation but no large-scale outcome data. Its clinical significance is higher in potential — democratizing access to a powerful modality, especially in resource-limited settings and for previously unimageable patients — but that potential still hinges on validation and adoption yet to come.