Flow-independent 3D whole-heart vessel wall imaging using an interleaved T2-preparation acquisition.

Current techniques to visualize the arterial vessel wall are limited in coverage because most of them are flow dependent. In this study, we present a novel technique for flow-independent vessel wall imaging that takes advantage of the differences in T2 relaxation time of arterial blood and surrounding tissues using the T2-preparation prepulse. The technique is based on the acquisition and subtraction of two data sets, one obtained with and one without T2-preparation prepulse. This approach allows for nulling the signal of arterial blood while maintaining signal from muscle and vessel wall. The result of the subtraction is a flow-independent black-blood vessel wall image. To minimize the motion sensitivity of the subtraction step, we developed an interleaved acquisition for the T2-preparation prepulse and non-T2-preparation prepulse images, which allows obtaining coronary vessel wall images from a whole-heart acquisition with minimal misregistration artefacts. In this article, we present the technique and preliminary results in healthy subjects.