Leon Axel, MD, PhD

Heart disease, particularly related to ischemia and infarction, remains the principal cause of morbidity and death in the Western World. MRI and CT have the potential of playing significant roles in the evaluation of the heart, both for research and clinical applications.

The Cardiac Imaging and Analysis Laboratory (CARDIAL), under the direction of Leon Axel, is a multidisciplinary group dedicated to the development and evaluation of new cardiac imaging methods, particularly those involving quantitative characterization of such physiologic aspects as function and perfusion. This includes development of novel MRI cardiac imaging methods such as tagged MRI for regional cardiac function analysis and rapid quantitative imaging for perfusion studies, and associated programs for image analysis, as well as research on their basic and clinical applications.