Kelvin Chow1, Yang Yang2, and Michael Salerno1,2
1Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States, 2Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
The robustness of SASHA T1 mapping to
systematic errors provides more accurate T1 measurements, but SASHA is less
precise than the more commonly used MOLLI sequence. Free-breathing SASHA acquisitions can
increase precision in T1 maps, but motion correction of SASHA images is
challenging due to poor blood-tissue contrast.
We present a novel approach for robust image registration by acquiring additional
high-contrast data in a keyhole fashion without affecting T1 accuracy. In 10 healthy subjects, a SASHA T1 maps acquired
in <90 seconds of free-breathing had a lower myocardial T1 standard
deviation than MOLLI (46.1±3.8 ms vs. 55.3±7.7 ms, p<0.05).
