2099 Cardiac MRI @ 7-Tesla: initial experiments in pigs
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Meeting abstract
2099 Cardiac MRI @ 7-Tesla: initial experiments in pigs Harald H Quick*, Frank Breuckmann, Kai Nassenstein, Stefan Maderwald, Lena Schäfer, Mark E Ladd and Jörg Barkhausen Address: University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany * Corresponding author
from 11th Annual SCMR Scientific Sessions Los Angeles, CA, USA. 1–3 February 2008 Published: 22 October 2008 Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance 2008, 10(Suppl 1):A368
doi:10.1186/1532-429X-10-S1-A368
Abstracts of the 11th Annual SCMR Scientific Sessions - 2008
Meeting abstracts – A single PDF containing all abstracts in this Supplement is available here. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1532-429X-10-S1-info.pdfThis abstract is available from: http://jcmr-online.com/content/10/S1/A368 © 2008 Quick et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Introduction Cardiac MRI at high field strengths is a potentially challenging endeavour for numerous reasons: the heart is subject to cardiac and breathing motion, necessitating ECG and navigator triggered or suspended breathing sequences to capture the beating heart. Its position deep within the body and surrounded by lung tissue renders homogenous RF signal transmission and MRI signal reception difficult.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to perform cardiac MRI at 7Tesla in a pig model in order to evaluate potential advantages and disadvantages specifically associated with cardiac MR imaging at this high field strength.
Materials and methods Two fully anaesthetized and ventilated minipigs weighing 25 kg and 27 kg were placed feet first in supine position inside an 8-channel transmit/receive head coil (Rapid Biomedical, Würzburg, Germany) such that the thorax was completely covered by the sensitive region of the RF coil with the heart being centered in the middle of the coil. Scanning was performed on a 7-Tesla whole-body MRI system (Magnetom 7 T, Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany). Cardiac function along standard views (short and long axis, 4-chamber, 2-chamber, LVOT) was evaluated using ECG-triggered TrueFISP retro (TR/TE 4.4/ 2.2 ms; FOV 280 × 228 mm2; matrix 512 × 432; slice 4 mm; bandwidths (BW) 650 Hz/pixel; flip 30°, 25 phases per RR-interval) and Cine FLASH sequences (TR/TE 6.0/ 2.6 ms; FOV 280 × 228 mm2; matrix 256 × 208; slice 4 mm; BW 650 Hz/pixel; flip 15°, 25 phases per RR-inter-
val). Additionally, myocardial tagging was performed in conjunction with FLASH sequences. Image quality was visually assessed for signal homogeneity and myocardium-to-blood contrast.
Results The fully anesthetized and ventilated animals could successfully be examined under stable cardiac conditions (heart rate 60–90 bpm) over the full length of the experiments (8 hours). Cardiac MRI at 7-Tesla was successful in both animals. While TrueFISP images were degraded by banding artifacts and the resulting signal inhomogeneities, especially at the heart/lung tissue interface (Fig. 1A), the FLASH sequence provided excellent imaging quality with good signal homogeneity
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