James W. Goldfarb1,2, Wenguo Zhao1
1Saint Francis Hospital, Roslyn, NY,
United States; 2Program in Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook
University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
The
aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of a three compartment
pharmacokinetic model of late gadolinium-enhancement for chronic myocardial
infarcts. Twenty-five individuals with
chronic myocardial infarctions (MI) underwent MR imaging at 1.5T. Blood concentration was modeled with a
bi-exponential and tissue concentration with a three compartment model,
including vascular, free and trapping compartments. Fractional volumes and transfer constants into the
compartments were fitted parameters of the model. It was found that a three compartment model
is suitable for detailed modeling of chronic MI Gd-pharmacokinetics. This model provides further justification
that fibrosis traps the Gd-contrast agent while Gd-concentrations in the free
extracellular matrix remain similar with viable myocardium.