Health Care: Palo Alto Division

From two generous hearts, visionary technology

Cardiac MRI

When the late Philip Heuer quietly went about making his estate plans, which included a gift to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation for purchase of medical equipment, he may have been inspired in part by his own experiences as a heart patient at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic. "When I examined his pacemaker, he would sit up on the table and watch the screen fascination," recalled Bill Mullen, M.D., who was Mr. Heuer's cardiologist from 1995 until he passed away in 2001. "When he saw how much information was being translated, he would joke that his pacemaker was like having 'Big Brother' in his chest."

Today, Philip and his wife Maxine Heuer's bequest is being used to purchase a revolutionary type of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine that will be among a handful of such machines in the entire world. "Other places use MRI scanners to scan the heart, but this machine was actually designed and built for the sole purpose of cardiac imaging," explained Dr. Mullen. "The technology is fundamentally different."

In early 2002, plans for acquisition of the new MRI took a giant leap forward when Dr. Bob Hu joined PAMF after more than two decades at Stanford University Hospital. A founding board member of the Society of Cardiographic Magnetic Resonance, Dr. Hu is one of the world's foremost specialists in the area of non-invasive cardiac imaging. Over the years, Drs. Hu and Mullen have often conferred about their patients. Now that they are working under one roof, they are also collaborating with Stanford University's Electrical Engineering Department to ensure that PAMF will remain at the forefront of cardiac imaging for many years to come.

"Because MRI is so good at distinguishing between soft tissues, it is ideal for identifying the subtle differences between normal and abnormal heart muscles," said Dr. Hu. With the new cardiac MRI, Dr. Hu and his colleagues hope to reduce the number of invasive heart procedures performed at PAMF. This is particularly important for the nearly 35% of patients whose heart function subjects them to greater risks in surgery. The new cardiac MRI is due to be available to PAMF patients in early 2003.

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