Accelerated Mouse Cardiac Imaging Using Threefold Undersampling and Kt-BLAST Reconstruction

Ian Marshall¹, ², Maurits A. Jansen¹, ², Yuehui Tao¹, ³, Gavin D. Merrifield¹, ⁴, Gillian A. Gray²

Conventional cine cardiac scans were compared with threefold undersampled kt-BLAST acquisition in 6 healthy mice and one with myocardial infarct. Cardiological indices determined from the kt-BLAST acquisition agreed well with those from the standard cine sequence. End-diastolic LV volume was underestimated by 5%, end-systolic volume overestimated by 5% and ejection fraction underestimated by 4%. These differences are within the intra- and inter-observer variation expected in cardiac studies of mice. We conclude that accelerated mouse cardiac imaging is possible with acceptable accuracy for an acceleration factor of 3 times. The subsequent reduction in exposure to anaesthesia will contribute to animal welfare.