Prospective Synchronization of Small Animal Cardiac MRI: A Quantitative Comparison of an Optical Device, Pressure Sensor and ECG

Adrian Rengle¹, Raphal Sablong¹, Olivier Beuf²

An optical-based device designed to synchronize MRI acquisition on small animals was developed using a transmit-receive pair of optical fibers. The suitability of the developed was assessed on ten mice and compared with ECG and pressure sensor for cardiac MRI. MR images of mice heart depict low visible motion artifacts with all three investigated signals used for triggering. No significant SNR differences were found on images acquired with three sensors. However, depending on device used, the triggering point does not correspond to the same instant of the cardiac cycle inducing a time shift between image series acquired with the three devices.