1Bioengineering
, University of Utah, salt lake city, UT, United States; 2Bioengineering,
University of Utah, salt lake city, UT, United States; 3Cardiovascular
Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, salt lake, UT, United
States
MR diffusion measurements were investigated in an animal model of isolated perfused heart and analyzed as functions of myocardial perfusion, diffusion encoding b-value and myofiber orientation. Results indicate that perfusion accounts for 14% and 10% of the apparent diffusion coefficients observed at normal flow in directions parallel and perpendicular to the myofibers, respectively. The contributions of perfusion increase when only lower b-values and decrease when only higher b-values were used to measure diffusion. These findings have practical implications for the design and interpretation of in vivo cardiac diffusion and DTI experiments
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