Abstract #4553

in vivo Detection of Cardiac Fibrotic Tissue Without Contrast Agent

Xeni Deligianni¹, Nadine Kawel-Boehm², Theresa Dellas Buser², Jens Bremerich², Oliver Bieri¹, Francesco Santini¹

¹Department of Radiology, Division of Radiological Physics, University of Basel Hospital, Basel, NA, Switzerland; ²Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Basel Hospital, Basel, NA, Switzerland

Detection of myocardial fibrosis with MR is usually performed with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). Fibrosis is characterized by increased presence of collagen. We present a new positive contrast technique based on a 2D submillisecond echo time spoiled gradient echo sequence as a possible alternative to LGE. One healthy volunteer and one patient were scanned at a 1.5T scanner and results were compared to LGE. The agreement of the results with the LGE findings indicate that the proposed method could have high clinical potential since the administration of contrast agent could be omitted and it is also specific to chronic myocardial infarction.