Goals of our study were to compare the pulmonary hemodynamics between healthy volunteers and patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and correlate MR flow measurements with echocardiography. Twenty-five patients with PAH and 25 volunteers were examined at 1.5 T. Phase-contrast flow measurements were performed in the ascending aorta and pulmonary trunk, resulting in the following parameters: peak velocity (cm/s), average blood flow (l/min), time to peak velocity (ms), velocity rise gradient and pulmonary distensibility (cm(2)). The bronchosystemic shunt was calculated. In PAH patients transthoracic echocardiography and right-heart catheterization (RHC) served as the gold standard. In comparison to volunteers, the PAH patients showed significantly reduced pulmonary velocities (P = 0.002), blood flow (P = 0.002) and pulmonary distensibility (P = 0.008). In patients, the time to peak velocity was shorter (P<0.001), and the velocity rise gradient was steeper (P = 0.002) than in volunteers. While in volunteers the peak velocity in the aorta was reached earlier, it was the reverse in patients. Patients showed a significant bronchosystemic shunt (P = 0.01). No meaningful correlation was found between MRI measurements and echocardiography or RHC. MRI is a feasible technique for the differentiation between PAH and volunteers. Further studies have to be conducted for the absolute calculation of pressure estimates.