An Improved MR Imaging Technique for the Visualization of Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

The segmented inversion-recovery turboFLASH sequence produced the greatest differences in regional myocardial signal intensity in animals. Application of this technique in patients with infarction substantially improved differentiation between injured and normal regions.

Peak oxygen uptake in relation to total heart volume discriminates heart failure patients from healthy volunteers and athletes

“…Typical IR sequence parameters were: slice thickness = 8 mm, repetition time = 3.9 ms, echo time = 1.2 ms, in-plane resolution = 1.5 × 1.5 mm and flip angle = 15° with acquisition every heartbeat. The inversion time, typically 200--300 ms, was manually adjusted to null the signal from remote myocardium [14]. …”

Free‐breathing high‐spatial‐resolution delayed contrast‐enhanced three‐dimensional viability MR imaging of the myocardium at 3.0T: A feasibility study

“…DELAYED CONTRAST-ENHANCED VIABILITY magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the myocardium is a valuable tool for the detection of myocardial infarction (MI), various types of cardiomyopathies, and postinterventional findings (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Because of its high spatial resolution and image contrast, viability MRI visualizes the subendocardial MI and myocardial damage associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and sarcoidosis that cannot be detected with other imaging modalities (5)(6)(7).…”

Improved delayed enhanced myocardial imaging with T2‐Prep inversion recovery magnetization preparation

“…The difficulty of differentiating enhancing subendocardial infarction from ventricular blood due to their similar signal intensity is a known clinical problem when using DE cardiac MRI (5). We have demonstrated the feasibility of a T 2 Prep-IR prepared cardiac acquisition for improving the differentiation of enhancing infarcted from ventricular blood based on the differences in T 2 of ventricular blood and infarcted myocardium.…”

“…MRI offers excellent soft tissue contrast and high spatial resolution compared with alternative approaches that use ionizing radiation, such as single-photonemission computed tomography (SPECT) (3) and positron emission tomography (PET) (4). Most MR protocols utilize a T 1 -weighted inversion-recovery (IR) prepared fast gradient echo (GRE) segmented k-space acquisition with imaging performed 10 -20 minutes after the intravenous administration of an extracellular gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agent (5). With this approach, the optimal inversion time (TI) is adapted to suppress signal from normal myocardium (6,7), while the infarcted tissue appears hyperintense (bright) because of the delayed uptake and retention of Gd-based contrast media.…”

“…Although a judicious choice of TI maximizes the visualization of enhancing myocardium relative to normal myocardium using IR preparation, the contrast between ventricular blood and enhancing myocardium is often suboptimal (5). This occurs when the T 1 values of the blood pool and the enhancing myocardium are similar, resulting in poor contrast between the ventricular blood and regions of subendocardial enhancement, and making it difficult to accurately identify and delineate regions of subendocardial infarction.…”