Adaptive Method for Black Blood Cardiac Imaging in End-Systolic Rest Improves Visualization of the Right Ventricular Wall

Brice Fernandez^1,2, Julien Oster^2,3, Maelene Lohezic^1,2, Damien Mandry^2,4, Olivier Pietquin, ^2,5, Pierre-Andr Vuissoz^2,3, Jacques Felblinger^2,3

Conventional Double Inversion Recovery Fast Spin Echo (DIR-FSE) sequence provides detailed anatomical information in cardiac MRI. However, the preparation time required to cancel blood signal is too long to acquire DIR-FSE during the end-systolic rest. To overcome this constraint, two methods are described. The first one relies on the assumption that the RR intervals are constant whereas the second method is based on an adaptive RR interval prediction algorithm. These approaches were evaluated on 14 healthy volunteers; results demonstrated the robustness of the adaptive method with a better delineation of the right ventricle wall than with the conventional DIR-FSE.