T2 measurement of the human myocardium using a T2-prepared transient-state trueFISP sequence

✍ Scribed by Teng-Yi Huang; Yi-Jui Liu; Alto Stemmer; Brigitte P. Poncelet

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 845 KB
• Volume: 57
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0740-3194
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.21208

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A fast and motion‐insensitive technique suitable for myocardial BOLD contrast imaging is presented. The method, termed T~2~‐TrueFISP, combines T~2~ magnetization preparation with steady‐state free precession (SSFP) imaging for T~2~ relaxation mapping of the myocardium in healthy volunteers. The T~2~ contrast‐to‐noise ratio (CNR) was optimized with the use of transient‐state TrueFISP readout and half‐Fourier readout with linear phase encoding. Single‐slice myocardial T~2~‐weighted image was obtained within one heartbeat, and a single slice T~2~ map of the myocardium was obtained in under 5–7 s. A respiratory navigator‐gating method was incorporated for serial measurements and signal averaging, with the subjects breathing freely. The mean myocardial T~2~ relaxation time measured in 12 healthy volunteers was 54 ± 5.7 ms. Regional variations of T~2~ values across the myocardium were 7%. Temporal variations across serial T~2~ measurements in a transmural region covering ∼0.5 cc of the left ventricular (LV) wall were 3.6% without signal averaging (number of excitations (NEX) = 1) and 1.7% with signal averaging (NEX = 10). According to our preliminary results, the T~2~‐TrueFISP method is expected to provide a robust and sensitive tool for clinical application of myocardial BOLD contrast imaging. Magn Reson Med 57:960–966, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.