Technical notes
Myocardial T1 and extracellular volume fraction mapping at 3 tesla
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* Corresponding author: David A Bluemke bluemked@nih.gov
1 Radiology and Imaging Sciences, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA
2 Molecular Biomedical Imaging Laboratory, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, Bethesda, MD, USA
3 Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
4 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, USA
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance 2011, 13:75 doi:10.1186/1532-429X-13-75
Published: 28 November 2011Abstract
Background
To compare 11 heartbeat (HB) and 17 HB modified lock locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) pulse sequence at 3T and to establish preliminary reference values for myocardial T1 and the extracellular volume fraction (ECV).
Methods
Both phantoms and normal volunteers were scanned at 3T using 11 HB and 17 HB MOLLI sequence with the following parameters: spatial resolution = 1.75 × 1.75 × 10 mm on a 256 × 180 matrix, TI initial = 110 ms, TI increment = 80 ms, flip angle = 35°, TR/TE = 1.9/1.0 ms. All volunteers were administered Gadolinium-DTPA (Magnevist, 0.15 mmol/kg), and multiple post-contrast MOLLI scans were performed at the same pre-contrast position from 3.5-23.5 minutes after a bolus contrast injection. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) images were also acquired 12-30 minutes after the gadolinium bolus.
Results
T1 values of 11 HB and 17 HB MOLLI displayed good agreement in both phantom and volunteers. The average pre-contrast myocardial and blood T1 was 1315 ± 39 ms and 2020 ± 129 ms, respectively. ECV was stable between 8.5 to 23.5 minutes post contrast with an average of 26.7 ± 1.0%.
Conclusion
The 11 HB MOLLI is a faster method for high-resolution myocardial T1 mapping at 3T. ECV fractions are stable over a wide time range after contrast administration.