Subashini Srinivasan1,2,
Peng Hu2, Kraig V. Kissinger2, Beth Goddu2,
Lois Geopfert2, Ehud J. Schmidt3, Sebastian Kozerke1,
Reza Nezafat2
1Institute of
Biomedical Engineering, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland; 2Department of
Medicine (Cardiovascular Division), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 3Department of Radiology,
Brigham & Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
2D black blood imaging of the heart is commonly used in the assessment of myocardial wall anatomy, cardiac masses and other pathologic conditions. In this study, we describe a free-breathing whole heart 3D black-blood imaging using MSDE preparation pulse. Images with T1 weighted turbo spin echo, spoiled gradient echo, and balanced steady state free precession in axial and short axis planes were acquired from 7 healthy adult subjects. Excellent suppression of blood and clear delineation of the cardiac chamber walls and papillary muscle was observed with all the imaging sequences but with additional undesired signal loss in the myocardium (14%-27%).