MultiContrast Delayed Enhancement (MCODE) Improves Interpretation of Cardiac MRI Delayed Enhancement: A Clinical Validation Study

W. Patricia Bandettini¹, Peter Kellman¹, Christine Mancini¹, Oscar Julian Booker¹, Sujethra Vasu¹, Steve W. Leung¹, Joel R. Wilson¹, Pamela Vincent¹, Sujata M. Shanbhag¹, Marcus Y. Chen¹, Andrew Ernest Arai¹

Multicontrast delayed enhancement (MCODE) is a technique that has been useful in discriminating subendocardial myocardial infarction from blood pool by simultaneously providing a T2-weighted image in addition to the standard late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) T1 image, thus allowing distinction between true enhanced myocardium and blood pool. Our clinical validation study demonstrates that in over one-third of cases of abnormal LGE and cases of questionable LGE, the T2 data acquired using GRE-MCODE adds diagnostic value to the final interpretation above that obtained in a LGE T1 image alone.