PURPOSE: To develop a reproducible fast spin-echo (FSE) technique for accurate myocardial T2 measurement with application to iron overload assessment in thalassemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An FSE sequence was developed to permit acquisition of multiple TE images in one breathhold (BH-FSE). A dynamic black-blood scheme was introduced to better cancel blood signal. A nonselective refocusing train was also adopted to suppress stimulated echoes. The optimized technique was tested on phantoms and then applied to 10 normal volunteers and 10 thalassemia patients. Interstudy reproducibility was measured on all the 20 subjects. RESULTS: The mean difference in T2 values was 1.7% from phantom experiments between BH-FSE and the conventional spin-echo (SE) technique. High contrast BH-FSE images were acquired from human subjects, with minimal stimulated echoes and effective blood suppression (P = 0.0005). The coefficient of variation for interstudy reproducibility was 4.3%. T2 values from thalassemia patients were substantially lower than those from the normal subjects (45.2 +/- 26.1 msec vs. 56.9 +/- 8.4 ms, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The dynamic black-blood T2 sequence is a fast reproducible acquisition that compares favorably with conventional techniques, is robust to motion artifacts, and yields high blood-myocardium contrast. This technique may provide a useful tool in thalassemia and other scenarios requiring myocardial T2 quantification.
PURPOSE: To develop a reproducible fast spin-echo (FSE) technique for accurate myocardial T2 measurement with application to iron overload assessment in thalassemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An FSE sequence was developed to permit acquisition of multiple TE images in one breathhold (BH-FSE). A dynamic black-blood scheme was introduced to better cancel blood signal. A nonselective refocusing train was also adopted to suppress stimulated echoes. The optimized technique was tested on phantoms and then applied to 10 normal volunteers and 10 thalassemiapatients. Interstudy reproducibility was measured on all the 20 subjects. RESULTS: The mean difference in T2 values was 1.7% from phantom experiments between BH-FSE and the conventional spin-echo (SE) technique. High contrast BH-FSE images were acquired from human subjects, with minimal stimulated echoes and effective blood suppression (P = 0.0005). The coefficient of variation for interstudy reproducibility was 4.3%. T2 values from thalassemiapatients were substantially lower than those from the normal subjects (45.2 +/- 26.1 msec vs. 56.9 +/- 8.4 ms, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The dynamic black-blood T2 sequence is a fast reproducible acquisition that compares favorably with conventional techniques, is robust to motion artifacts, and yields high blood-myocardium contrast. This technique may provide a useful tool in thalassemia and other scenarios requiring myocardial T2 quantification.
Authors: John-Paul Carpenter; Taigang He; Paul Kirk; Michael Roughton; Lisa J Anderson; Sofia V de Noronha; Mary N Sheppard; John B Porter; J Malcolm Walker; John C Wood; Renzo Galanello; Gianluca Forni; Gualtiero Catani; Gildo Matta; Suthat Fucharoen; Adam Fleming; Michael J House; Greg Black; David N Firmin; Timothy G St Pierre; Dudley J Pennell Journal: Circulation Date: 2011-03-28 Impact factor: 29.690
Authors: Li Feng; Ricardo Otazo; Hong Jung; Jens H Jensen; Jong C Ye; Daniel K Sodickson; Daniel Kim Journal: Magn Reson Med Date: 2011-02-28 Impact factor: 4.668
Authors: Hua Guo; Wing-Yan Au; Jerry S Cheung; Daniel Kim; Jens H Jensen; Pek-Lan Khong; Queenie Chan; Kevin C Chan; Christina Tosti; Haiying Tang; Truman R Brown; Wynnie W M Lam; Shau-Yin Ha; Gary M Brittenham; Ed X Wu Journal: J Magn Reson Imaging Date: 2009-08 Impact factor: 4.813
Authors: Craig R Butler; Richard Thompson; Mark Haykowsky; Mustafa Toma; Ian Paterson Journal: J Cardiovasc Magn Reson Date: 2009-03-12 Impact factor: 5.364