Retrospectively-gated CINE (23)Na imaging of the heart at 7.0 Tesla using density-adapted 3D projection reconstruction.

PURPOSE: Implementation, evaluation and application of a pulse sequence for retrospectively-gated sodium magnetic resonance imaging of the human heart. METHODS: Measurements were conducted at a magnetic field strength of 7.0 Tesla. A 3D projection reconstruction technique using a standard (ST) and a golden angle (GA) acquisition scheme for short echo time (23)Na MR was applied. Data were acquired continuously without cardiac triggering using a free breathing regime. Arbitrary phases of the cardiac cycle were reconstructed using synchronization with a physiological trigger signal and different temporal resolutions. Phantom measurements and examinations of healthy subjects were performed to evaluate the performance of the ST and GA acquisition schemes. A signal-to-background ratio (SBR)--that compromises both the signal-to-noise ratio and artifacts--was calculated for benchmarking the GA and ST scheme. RESULTS: In phantom measurements, the measured SBR of the GA acquisition scheme was up to 88% higher versus ST. Undersampling artifacts were reduced in GA compared to the ST sampling scheme. Whole heart coverage sodium images could be reconstructed with a nominal spatial resolution of (6 mm)(3) and a temporal resolution of Δt=0.1 s for covering the entire cardiac cycle. Changes in overall heart volume and myocardial wall thickness throughout the cardiac cycle were clearly visible in the reconstructed images. For the in vivo data and the imaging protocol used, GA provided a mean SBR of 38.0±5.5 while ST provided a mean SBR of 37.2±2.2. CONCLUSION: Retrospectively-gated CINE (23)Na imaging of the heart at 7.0 T using density-adapted 3D projection reconstruction is feasible. The GA acquisition scheme is superior to the ST acquisition.

Sodium MRI of the human heart at 7.0 T: preliminary results.

The objective of this work was to examine the feasibility of three-dimensional (3D) and whole heart coverage (23)Na cardiac MRI at 7.0 T including single-cardiac-phase and cinematic (cine) regimes. A four-channel transceiver RF coil array tailored for (23)Na MRI of the heart at 7.0 T (f = 78.5 MHz) is proposed. An integrated bow-tie antenna building block is used for (1)H MR to support shimming, localization and planning in a clinical workflow. Signal absorption rate simulations and assessment of RF power deposition were performed to meet the RF safety requirements. (23) Na cardiac MR was conducted in an in vivo feasibility study. 3D gradient echo (GRE) imaging in conjunction with Cartesian phase encoding (total acquisition time T(AQ) = 6 min 16 s) and whole heart coverage imaging employing a density-adapted 3D radial acquisition technique (T(AQ) = 18 min 20 s) were used. For 3D GRE-based (23)Na MRI, acquisition of standard views of the heart using a nominal in-plane resolution of (5.0 × 5.0) mm(2) and a slice thickness of 15 mm were feasible. For whole heart coverage 3D density-adapted radial (23)Na acquisitions a nominal isotropic spatial resolution of 6 mm was accomplished. This improvement versus 3D conventional GRE acquisitions reduced partial volume effects along the slice direction and enabled retrospective image reconstruction of standard or arbitrary views of the heart. Sodium cine imaging capabilities were achieved with the proposed RF coil configuration in conjunction with 3D radial acquisitions and cardiac gating. Cardiac-gated reconstruction provided an enhancement in blood-myocardium contrast of 20% versus the same data reconstructed without cardiac gating. The proposed transceiver array enables (23)Na MR of the human heart at 7.0 T within clinical acceptable scan times. This capability is in positive alignment with the needs of explorations that are designed to examine the potential of (23)Na MRI for the assessment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.