Cardiovascular cine imaging and flow evaluation using Fast Interrupted Steady-State (FISS) magnetic resonance

Abstract

BackgroundExisting cine imaging techniques rely on balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) or spoiled gradient-echo readouts, each of which has limitations. For instance, with bSSFP, artifacts occur from rapid through-plane flow and off-resonance effects. We hypothesized that a prototype cine technique, radial fast interrupted steady-state (FISS), could overcome these limitations. The technique was compared with standard cine bSSFP for cardiac function, coronary artery conspicuity, and aortic valve morphology. Given its advantageous properties, we further hypothesized that the cine FISS technique, in combination with arterial spin labeling (ASL), could provide an alternative to phase contrast for visualizing in-plane flow patterns within the aorta and branch vessels.Main bodyThe study was IRB-approved and subjects provided consent. Breath-hold cine FISS and bSSFP were acquired using similar imaging parameters. There was no significant difference in biplane left ventricular ejection fraction or cardiac image quality between the two techniques. Compared with cine bSSFP, cine FISS demonstrated a marked decrease in fat signal which improved conspicuity of the coronary arteries, while suppression of through-plane flow artifact on thin-slice cine FISS images improved visualization of the aortic valve. Banding artifacts in the subcutaneous tissues were reduced. In healthy subjects, dynamic flow patterns were well visualized in the aorta, coronary and renal arteries using cine FISS ASL, even when the slice was substantially thicker than the vessel diameter.ConclusionCine FISS demonstrates several benefits for cardiovascular imaging compared with cine bSSFP, including better suppression of fat signal and reduced artifacts from through-plane flow and off-resonance effects. The main drawback is a slight (~ 20%) decrease in temporal resolution. In addition, preliminary results suggest that cine FISS ASL provides a potential alternative to phase contrast techniques for in-plane flow quantification, while enabling an efficient, visually-appealing, semi-projective display of blood flow patterns throughout the course of an artery and its branches.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12968-018-0433-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Natively fat‐suppressed 5D whole‐heart MRI with a radial free‐running fast‐interrupted steady‐state (FISS) sequence at 1.5T and 3T

“…The fat‐suppressing properties of FISS and corresponding sequence parameters were thoroughly investigated in this study. In an earlier report, FISS demonstrated a reduction in both flow artifacts compared with bSSFP and decreased arterial signal saturation relative to GRE. Another advantage of FISS with respect to bSSFP includes reduced signal oscillations from off‐resonant tissues when approaching the steady state …”

“…In the recently reported 2D radial cine FISS sequence protocols, NR values ranging from 1 to 8 were used . In the current study, 5D whole‐heart free‐running FISS was performed using either NR = 4 or NR = 8.…”

“…In the recently reported 2D radial cine FISS sequence protocols, NR values ranging from 1 to 8 were used. 6,7 In the current study, 5D whole-heart free-running FISS was performed using either NR = 4 or NR = 8. In our specific use case, this divides the spiral interleave consisting of 24 lines into 6 or 3 FISS modules.…”

CINENet: deep learning-based 3D cardiac CINE MRI reconstruction with multi-coil complex-valued 4D spatio-temporal convolutions

“…Adipose tissue, mainly observed as subcutaneous adipose tissue in the chest wall, and epicardial fat can introduce strong aliasing artifacts in highly accelerated 3D cardiac CINE. Fat suppressed acquisitions, such as water-selective excitation or fast interrupted steady-state 49 – 51 can help to reduce the impact of fat, but demand longer acquisition times for similar acceleration. In this study, we were interested to enable the reconstruction to deal with de-aliasing of artifacts from adipose tissues for a non-fat suppressed acquisition.…”

Noncontrast MR angiography: An update

“…Another emerging application of FISS is for the evaluation of blood flow, providing a potential alternative to phase contrast. For this purpose, FISS is used as the readout for a high‐temporal‐resolution cine ASL scan.…”