Bastiaan
J. van Nierop1, Jules L. Nelissen1, Noortje A.M. Bax2,
Larry de Graaf1, Klaas Nicolay1, Gustav J. Strijkers1
1Biomedical NMR, department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands; 2Soft Tissue Biomechanics and Engineering, department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Fibrosis is an important hallmark of various cardiac pathologies. A method is presented for 3D ultra short TE (UTE) imaging of fibrotic tissue in the in vivo infarcted mouse myocardium. UTE images were acquired with ultra-short (21μs) and long-TE (4ms). Next, subtraction images were obtained highlighting infarcted, myocardial tissue with high transversal relaxation rates, most likely caused by collagen deposition in the scar. Infarct locations were confirmed by late gadolinium enhancement MRI and the presence of collagen by Picrosirius Red stainings. Thus, in vivo UTE MRI enables collagen detection for the study of the role of fibrosis in myocardial disease.
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