Abstract #2590

Perceived Dark Rim in First-Pass Myocardial Perfusion MRI Due to Visual Illusion

Taehoon Shin¹, Bosco S. Tjan², Krishna S. Nayak³

¹Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; ²Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; ³Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

First-pass cardiac perfusion MRI often suffers from artifactual sub-endocardial dark rim that lowers diagnostic specificity and limits its routine clinical use. Insufficient spatial resolution and motion during data acquisition have been identified as potential causes of dark rim artifact (DRA). This study uncovers a new potential source of perceived DRA that is rooted in human visual illusion. We demonstrate that DRA can be perceived solely due to visual illusion in the absence of any true signal dip, using numerical phantoms and in-vivo perfusion images.