Adaptive black blood fast spin echo for end-systolic rest cardiac imaging.
Black Blood Fast Spin Echo imaging of the heart is usually performed during mid-diastolic rest. This is a direct consequence of the long inversion time required to suppress the blood signal, which is constrained by the T(1) of the blood, and of the heart rate. To overcome these constraints, and to acquire black blood images in the end-systolic rest period, a new approach is introduced aiming at adaptively predicting the best time to prepare and acquire MR signals. It is based on a RR interval prediction algorithm and on a cardiac cycle model. The proposed method was applied to 14 healthy volunteers and is compared to a simple alternative method using a fixed delay and to the standard black blood imaging method for imaging in the mid-diastolic rest period. Results show that the proposed method offers an increased robustness in terms of trigger delay error and image quality compared to the tested simple alternative. Also, it has been shown by qualitative analysis done by an experienced observer that the right ventricle, especially the thin right ventricle free wall, is better depicted with our method than with the standard mid-diastolic rest acquisition.
Fernandez
Brice
B
Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Nancy, France.
Oster
Julien
J
Lohezic
Maelene
M
Mandry
Damien
D
Pietquin
Olivier
O
Vuissoz
Pierre-André
PA
Felblinger
Jacques
J
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D013599:Systole