Free-breathing, non-ECG, simultaneous myocardial T1, T2, T2*, and fat-fraction mapping with motion-resolved cardiovascular MR multitasking
Tianle Cao, Nan Wang, Alan C. Kwan, Hsu-Lei Lee, Xianglun Mao, Yibin Xie, Kim-Lien Nguyen, Caroline M. Colbert, Fei Han, Pei Han, Hui Han, Anthony G. Christodoulou, Debiao Li
Abstract
Purpose
To develop a free-breathing, non-electrocardiogram technique for simultaneous myocardial T1, T2, T2*, and fat-fraction (FF) mapping in a single scan.
Methods
The MR Multitasking framework is adapted to quantify T1, T2, T2*, and FF simultaneously. A variable TR scheme is developed to preserve temporal resolution and imaging efficiency. The underlying high-dimensional image is modeled as a low-rank tensor, which allows accelerated acquisition and efficient reconstruction. The accuracy and/or repeatability of the technique were evaluated on static and motion phantoms, 12 healthy volunteers, and 3 patients by comparing to the reference techniques.
Results
In static and motion phantoms, T1/T2/T2*/FF measurements showed substantial consistency (R > 0.98) and excellent agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.93) with reference measurements. In human subjects, the proposed technique yielded repeatable T1, T2, T2*, and FF measurements that agreed with those from references.
Conclusions
The proposed free-breathing, non-electrocardiogram, motion-resolved Multitasking technique allows simultaneous quantification of myocardial T1, T2, T2*, and FF in a single 2.5-min scan.