Human Cardiac T1 Mapping in vivo at 7T: Quantifying and Correcting for Partial Inversion

C. T. Rodgers¹, S. K. Piechnik¹, L. DelaBarre², P.-F. Van de Moortele², C. J. Snyder², S. Neubauer¹, M. D. Robson¹, J. T. Vaughan²

Quantitative mapping of myocardial T₁ has proved valuable at 1.5 and 3T. In a pilot study, we began to adapt the ShMOLLI T₁ mapping sequence for 7T. We now quantify the achievable magnetization inversion in the heart at 7T and to optimize T₁ measurements there. To achieve this, we make further improvements to the pulse sequence and post-processing, validating these with phantom experiments. Scans on 6 volunteers measure the human myocardial T₁ at 7T as 1926 22ms. Our data suggest that future measurements may be feasible on scanners with 8kW RF output, in a single reasonably short breath hold.