Sodium T2* relaxation times in human heart muscle

✍ Scribed by Thomas Pabst; Joern Sandstede; Meinrad Beer; Werner Kenn; Stefan Neubauer; Dietbert Hahn

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 272 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.10046

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Purpose

To determine sodium transverse relaxation (T~2~*) characteristics for myocardium, blood and cartilage in humans.

Methods

T~2~* measurements were performed using a 3D ECG‐gated spoiled gradient echo sequence. A 1.5 Tesla clinical scanner and a ^23^Na heart surface coil were used to examine eight healthy volunteers. In biological tissue, the sodium 23 nucleus exhibits a two‐component T~2~ relaxation due to the spin 3/2 and its quadrupolar nature. The long T~2~* components of normal myocardium, blood, and cartilage were quantified. For myocardium, the T~2~* was determined separately for the septum, anterior wall, lateral wall, and posterior wall.

Results

The long T~2~* relaxation time components of 13.3 ± 4.3 msec (septum 13.9 ± 3.2 msec, anterior wall 13.8 ± 5.4 msec, lateral wall 11.4 ± 4.1 msec, posterior wall 14.1 ± 3.7 msec), 19.3 ± 3.3 msec, and 10.2 ± 1.6 msec, were significantly different for myocardium, blood, and cartilage, respectively (P < 0.00001, Friedman's ANOVA).

Conclusion

Measurement of ^23^Na T~2~* relaxation times is feasible for different regions of the human heart muscle, which might be useful for the evaluation of cardiac pathologies. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2002;15:215–218. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.