Perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance: Comparison of an advanced, high-resolution and a standard sequence (Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance)

Background: Technical advances in perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), particularlyaccelerated data acquisition methods, allow myocardial perfusion imaging withunprecedented spatial resolution. However, it is not clear how implementation of these recentadvances affects perfusion image quality, signal and contrast to noise ratios (SNR & CNR)and the occurrence of important artefacts in routine clinical imaging. The objective of thisstudy was therefore to compare a standard and an advanced, high-resolution perfusionsequence. Methods: A standard ultrafast gradient echo perfusion sequence (st-GrE) was compared with anadvanced kt-accelerated steady state free precession sequence (ktBLAST-SSFP) at 1.5 T inhealthy volunteers (n = 16) and in patients (n = 32) with known or suspected coronary arterydisease. Volunteers were imaged with both sequences at rest and patients underwent stressand rest imaging with either st-GrE or ktBLAST-SSFP prior to X-ray coronary angiography.A blinded expert scored image quality and respiratory artefact severity and also classifiedpatients for the presence of CAD. The extent, transmurality and duration of dark rim artefacts(DRA) as well as signal to noise (SNR) and contrast to noise (CNR) were quantified. Results: In normal hearts ktBLAST-SSFP imaging resulted in significantly improved image quality(p = 0.003), SNR (21.0 +/- 6.7 vs. 18.8 +/- 6.6; p = 0.009), CNR (15.4 +/- 6.1 vs. 14.0 +/- 6.0;p = 0.034) and a reduced extent (p =