title: Black-blood T2* technique for myocardial iron measurement in thalassemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the effectiveness and reproducibility of a new black-blood sequence vs. a conventional bright-blood gradient-echo T2* sequence for myocardial iron overload measurement in thalassemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty thalassemia patients were studied. Black-blood sequence images were acquired in diastole after a double inversion recovery (DIR) preparation pulse. Bright-blood sequence images were acquired in both early systole and late diastole. The data were randomized and the T2* analysis was performed blindly by two independent observers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The T2* values from the black-blood sequence were comparable to those of the conventional bright-blood sequence (25.7 +/- 12.9 msec vs. 26.4 +/- 14.2 msec in early systole, P = 0.44; and 25.2 +/- 13.1 msec in late diastole, P = 0.41). The coefficient of variation (CV) for black-blood image T2* analysis was 4.1% compared with 8.9% (early systole P = 0.03) and 7.8% (late diastole P = 0.05) for bright-blood image analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The black-blood T2* technique yields high-contrast myocardial images, provides clearly depicted myocardial borders, and avoids blood signal contamination of the myocardium while yielding improvements in interobserver variability.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College, Sydney Street, London, United Kingdom. t.he@ic.ac.uk
authors.forename: Taigang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Gatehouse
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kirk
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.forename: Gillian C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.forename: Raad H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Mohiaddin
authors.forename: Dudley J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pennell
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Firmin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003971:Diastole; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000378:metabolism*