Abstract #0014

Baker R, Kiss P, Elgavish G, Ruzsics B, Surnyi P, Simor T, Brott B, Saab-Ismail N

A Tissue-Characterization-Mapping(TCM) MRI post-processing method is introduced. It differentiates myocardial edema, acute necrosis, hemorrhage and mature scar. The method combines the widely accepted delayed-contrast-enhancement(DE) method with our Percent Edema Mapping (PEM) method. PEM is a R2-based method for generating a map that reflects water-content in the infarcted heart. In dogs(n=6) four days after reperfused myocardial infarction, pixel-by-pixel R2-mapping was followed by DE imaging. Four dogs were sacrificed immediately and two were allowed to survive for eight weeks. Results of the TCM were compared to TTC-staining, validating the ability of TCM to accurately localize and quantify the various tissue types.