title: Quantification of myocardial blood flow using non-electrocardiogram-triggered MRI with three-slice coverage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Accurate quantification of myocardial perfusion is dependent on reliable electrocardiogram (ECG) triggering. Measuring myocardial blood flow (MBF) in patients with arrhythmias or poor ECGs is currently infeasible with MR. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a non-ECG-triggered method with clinically useful three-slice ventricular coverage for measurement of MBF in healthy volunteers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A saturation recovery magnetization-prepared gradient recalled echo acquisition was continuously repeated during first-pass imaging. A slice-interleaved radial trajectory was employed to enable image-based retrospective triggering. The arterial input function was generated using a beat-by-beat T1 estimation method. The proposed technique was validated against a conventional ECG-triggered dual-bolus technique in 10 healthy volunteers. The technique was further demonstrated under adenosine stress in 12 healthy volunteers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proposed method produced MBF with no significant difference compared with the ECG-triggered technique. The proposed method yielded mean myocardial perfusion reserve comparable to published literature.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have developed a non-ECG-triggered quantitative perfusion imaging method. In this preliminary study, our results demonstrate that our method yields comparable MBF compared with the conventional ECG-triggered method and that it is feasible for stress imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.|Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.affiliation: MR R&D, Siemens Healthcare, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.|Barbara Streisand Women's Heart Center, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Louise E J
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Barbara Streisand Women's Heart Center, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: C Noel
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Bairey Merz
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.|S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.|David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Debiao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000737:chemistry; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D055414:Myocardial Perfusion Imaging; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D010477:Perfusion; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D005682:Gadolinium; D000241:Adenosine
keywords: arterial input function; flow quantification; myocardial perfusion; saturation correction; ungated acquisition