A Free Breathing, Retrospectively Gated, Saturation Transfer Encoded Steady State Cardiac Cine Method for Preclinical Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer Imaging in the Heart

Moriel Vandsburger¹, Avigdor Leftin¹, Senzeni Mpofu¹, Michal Neeman¹

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging is emerging as a powerful MRI technique for selective visualization of a variety of targeted contrast agents and synthetic reporter genes. CEST imaging has been applied primarily to stationary organs or tumors, and never to the heart because of cardiac and respiratory motion. We developed a free breathing, retrospectively gated, CEST-encoded steady state gradient echo cardiac cine imaging sequence for the purpose of pre-clinical cardiac CEST imaging.