Assessment of Pericardial Enhancement in Pericarditis with a Novel Fat-Water Separated 3D Dixon Delayed Enhancement Pulse Sequence

James F. Glockner¹, Jae K. Oh², Manojkumar Saranathan³

Pericardial enhancement has been correlated with pathologic evidence of inflammation, and therefore can serve as a marker of pericarditis. Visualization of pericardial enhancement with MRI can be limited using traditional delayed enhancement sequences without fat suppression. We assessed a 3D Dixon FGRE fat-water separated delayed enhancement sequence in 21 patients with known or suspected pericarditis, and found that pericardial visualization and confidence in presence or absence of pericardial enhancement were significantly improved in comparison to a standard 2D DE pulse sequence.