Phase-sensitive inversion recovery single-shot balanced steady-state free precession for detection of myocardial infarction during a single breathhold

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: We sought to show that phase-sensitive detection and a single-shot technique allow imaging of the heart for detection of myocardial infarction during a single breathhold without adaptation of the inversion time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five patients at 2 weeks to 3 months after Q-wave myocardial infarction were examined on a 1.5-T MR system 10 minutes after the administration of a double-dose extravascular contrast agent. In order to determine the optimal inversion recovery time (TI), a TI scout sequence was performed. An IR-turboFlash sequence with optimized TI was used as standard of reference. A phase-sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) single-shot TrueFISP sequence, which allows imaging of nine slices during one breathhold (TR/TE/FA/BW: 2.2 ms/1.1 ms/60 degrees , 8 degrees /1220 Hz/Px) was used with a nominal TI of 200 ms. Spatial resolution was identical for both techniques: 1.3 mm x 1.8 mm x 8 mm. Infarct volumes, area of infarction on a selected slice, and scan time for imaging delayed contrast enhancement (DCE) were compared. RESULTS: The mean values for the time of imaging DCE were 10 minutes 43 seconds for the IR turboFLASH and 17 seconds (P<.001) for the PSIR single-shot TrueFISP sequence. No significant difference was found for the mean values of the infarct volumes with 18.7 ml (IR turboFLASH) and 17.3 ml (PSIR single-shot TrueFISP). The values for the correlation coefficients of the infarct volumes and infarct areas of the two different techniques were r=0.95 (P<.004) and r=0.97 (P<.002). The regression equations were y=0.76+0.92*x and y=0.07+0.93*x, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: PSIR single-shot TrueFISP allows for accurate identification of myocardial infarction during a single breathhold with reduction of scan time by a factor of 38.