Jean-Noel Hyacinthe1, Magalie Vialon2, Alexandru Cernicanu2, Chirine Parsei2, Sven Zuehlsdorff3, Pierre Croisille4, Pierre-Frederic Keller2, Dominique Didier2, Jean-Paul Vallee5,6
1University of Geneva, Switzerland; 2Geneva University Hospital; 3Siemens Medical Solutions USA; 4University of Lyon (Fr); 5Radiology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 6Work supported in part by the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Geneva,, Lausanne, Switzerland
This study evaluated the benefit of free breathing real time imaging of the cardiac function at 3T by comparison to 1.5T in 13 volunteers and 26 patients. Gain in myocardial SNR but not myocardial/blood CNR was observed at 3T by comparison to 1.5T. Accurate determination of the diastole, systole and EF was obtained with the real-time sequences. For regional function determination, sensitivity and specificity of the real time sequence at 3T was 80% and 98%. Therefore, free breathing real-time cardiac MRI is a valuable alternative for difficult patients.