CONTRAST-ENHANCED ECHO-PLANAR MR-IMAGING OF MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION - PRELIMINARY-STUDY IN HUMANS

PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of T1- and T2*-weighted echo-planar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the assessment of cardiac perfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixteen subjects underwent MR imaging. Fifteen subjects were healthy volunteers and one had coronary artery disease. T2%-weighted echo-planar imaging with free induction decay was performed in II subjects and TI-weighted inversion-recovery spin-echo echo-planar imaging was performed in five. Images were obtained before and after administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine. RESULTS: The contrast-to-noise ratio for pre- and postcontrast T2*-weighted images obtained with an echo time of 16 msec (n = 8) was -9.9 +/- 3.4, and the contrast enhancement ratio was -0.37 +/- 0.07. The values for T2*-weighted images obtained with an echo time of 30 msec (n = 3) were -9.5 +/- 6.8 and 0.44 +/- 0.02, respectively. For TI-weighted echo-planar imaging, the values were 26.7 +/- 8.0 and. 4.6 +/- 2.8, respectively. CONCLUSION: Inversion-recovery spin-echo echo-planar imaging provides excellent temporal resolution, myocardial detail, and myocardium-blood pool contrast, with minimal artifact. It is presently the technique of choice for the MR imaging evaluation of myocardial perfusion.