Uwe Heinrichs1, Jane Francis Utting2, Tobias Frauenrath2, Fabian Hezel2, Gabriele A. Krombach2, Michael AJ Hodenius3, Sebastian Kozerke4, Thoralf Niendorf2,5
1Department of Diagnostic Radiology, RWTH Aachen University , Aachen, Germany; 2Department of Diagnostic Radiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; 32Department of Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; 43Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 5Faculty of Mathematics, Computerscience and Natural Science, RWTH Aachen University , Aachen, Germany
This study is designed to demonstrate the promise of navigator gated, susceptibility weighted fast spin-echo imaging in conjunction with ventricular blood suppression for anatomically accurate T2*-mapping of the heart. First results of phantom and volunteer studies demonstrate the geometrical integrity and high image quality obtained with UFLARE - even for strong T2*-weighting at 1.5T and 3.0T. T2*-mapping using UFLARE yielded mean T2* values for the inferoseptal myocardium of 29.96.6 ms at 1.5T and 22.34.8 ms at 3.0T. The results derived with susceptibility weighted UFLARE promise to extend the capabilities of CVMR including mapping and quantification of myocardial iron content.