Bastiaan J. van Nierop1, Bram F. Coolen1, Wouter J.R. Dijk1, Larry de Graaf1, Klaas Nicolay1, Gustav J. Strijkers1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands
The repeatability of quantitative, first-pass perfusion MRI in the healthy mouse heart was evaluated. A dual-bolus approach was used for accurate determination of the arterial input function (AIF). Direct experimental evidence from 28 pre-boluses showed that this approach results in an unsaturated AIF, by establishing linearity of the AIF signal intensity with Gd-DTPA concentration. Next, myocardial perfusion (ml/min/g) was quantified in 9 mice using a Fermi constraint deconvolution model. The repeatability was demonstrated by measuring perfusion at two time points. The resulting between-session coefficient of variation (11%) makes this method well-suited for longitudinal studies in mouse models of cardiac disease.