Application of DENSE MR-Elastography to the Human Heart: First in Vivo Results

Benjamin Robert¹, Ralph Sinkus¹, Jean-Luc Gennisson¹, Mathias Fink¹

Cardiac MR-Elastography presents several challenges due to short T2* and periodic myocardium activity. Moreover, low frequency elastic waves should be used as the heart is located deeply within the chest. Thus, conventional MRE has failed to be implemented to myocardium. A new MRE sequence has been derived from DENSE sequence, and it is applied to two healthy volunteers. In vivo cardiac feasibility is shown, and elastograms are estimated for four different heart phases during diastole for both volunteers. The shear modulus maps are characterized by an increase during diastole as the heart wall becomes stiffer during the ventricle blood filling.