Contrast-enhanced first-pass myocardial perfusion magnetic resonance imaging with parallel acquisition at 3.0 Tesla.
OBJECTIVE
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 T is significantly different than 1.5 T and needs to be optimized due to increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and specific absorption ratio (SAR). This study tests the hypothesis that first-pass myocardial perfusion MRI using saturation recovery (SR)-TrueFISP with parallel imaging is superior to SR-TurboFLASH and a more achievable technique for clinical application at 3 T.


METHODS
Myocardial perfusion imaging was performed on 12 subjects using SR-TurboFLASH and SR-TrueFISP sequences combined with parallel imaging. Four myocardial slices were acquired and evaluated by image segmentation. Quality of the measurements was determined from SNR, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), enhancement-to-noise ratio (ENR), and myocardial perfusion upslope. Data were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA with imaging method and segment number as the independent variables.


RESULTS
SNR, CNR, ENR, and upslope were significantly higher for SR-TrueFISP versus SR-TurboFLASH (P < 0.001). Significant differences in SNR, CNR, ENR, and upslope were found among the myocardial segments (P < 0.005).


CONCLUSIONS
Optimized SR-TrueFISP first-pass myocardial perfusion MRI at 3 T has superior image quality compared with SR-TurboFLASH, independent of the myocardial segment analyzed. However, coil sensitivity nonuniformities and dielectric resonance effects cause signal intensity differences between myocardial segments that must be accounted for when interpreting 3 T perfusion studies.
Ruan
Chun
C
Department of Radiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78284-6200, USA.
Yang
Scott H
SH
Cusi
Kenneth
K
Gao
Feng
F
Clarke
Geoffrey D
GD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016477:Artifacts; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging
D003287:Contrast Media; C064925:gadodiamide; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA