Abstract #1173

Green J, Kumar A, Friedrich M

Steady-state Free Precession (SSFP) is used for many cardiac applications, and under certain conditions is sensitive to the BOLD (Blood Oxygen-Level Dependent) effect. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a new BOLD-sensitive SSFP sequence which is designed for use in the heart. We used an arm cuff model of ischemia in 11 volunteers and detected a signal change of 2.4% (baseline to ischemia) and 2.1% (baseline to hyperemia). These results are statistically significant (p<0.05) and comparable to other cardiac BOLD imaging techniques.