Holden H. Wu1,2, Dwight G. Nishimura2,
Michael V. McConnell1,2, Bob S. Hu2,3
1Cardiovascular Medicine,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; 2Electrical
Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; 3Palo
Alto Medical Foundation, Palo Alto, CA, United States
Conventional methods for imaging cardiac function seek to suspend or effectively eliminate respiratory motion to avoid image artifacts. However, in many disease states, including pericardial constriction and diastolic dysfunction, it is precisely the changes in cardiac function associated with changes in respiration that can reflect the pathophysiology. In this work, we present a comprehensive free-breathing technique for capturing the five-dimensional state of the heart, including volumetric spatial information, cardiac phase information, and respiratory phase information. This proposed technique collects data using the 3D cones readout trajectory to reduce scan time and provide robustness to motion/flow effects.