Improved accuracy of myocardial blood flow quantification by first pass perfusion MR when corrected for steady state T1 relaxation

Niloufar Zarinabad,Reza Razavi,Gilion Hautvast,Eike Nagel,Eva Sammut,Marcel Breeuwer,Tobias Voigt,Valentina O Puntmann,Amedeo Chiribiri

doi:10.1186/1532-429x-15-s1-p85

Abstract

Background Quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) on firstpass dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE ) MR perfusion imaging has been performed by several different methods. However MBF estimates are dependent on the analysis model used, as the absolute concentration of the contrast agent during first pass is not known. To improve the accuracy of the MBF estimates calibration is required. We propose a novel approach for the quantification of MBF based on patient-specific calibration using steady state T1 relaxation values (1) (figure 1).

Highlights

Quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) on firstpass dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE ) MR perfusion imaging has been performed by several different methods
The bar plot in figure 2 compares the rest and stress mean MBFcalib values with the mean MBFDCE values and the reference perfusion values reported in the literature (3) in normal and ischaemic myocardial regions
The addition of T1 steady state measurements to DCE measurements of MBF improve the accuracy of the measurement as inter-subject variability is taken into account

Summary

Introduction

Quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) on firstpass dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE ) MR perfusion imaging has been performed by several different methods. MBF estimates are dependent on the analysis model used, as the absolute concentration of the contrast agent during first pass is not known. To improve the accuracy of the MBF estimates calibration is required. We propose a novel approach for the quantification of MBF based on patient-specific calibration using steady state T1 relaxation values (1) (figure 1). Using a saturation recovery gradient echo method (TR/ TE 3.0ms/1.0ms, flip-angle 15°; effective k-t SENSE acceleration 3.8, spatial resolution 1.2x1.2x10mm, saturationrecovery delay 120 ms). T1 images were acquired using a cardiac triggered Modified Look Locker Inversion Recovery (MOLLI) sequence(slice thickness 8 mm, FOV 388x320mm[2], matrix 216x216, 11 different TI, range 90ms-3s).

Methods

Results

Conclusion