Multicontrast delayed enhancement provides improved contrast between myocardial infarction and blood pool

Abstract

Purpose: To develop and test a delayed-enhancement imaging method for improving the contrast between myocardial infarction (MI) and blood pool. Materials and Methods: The T2 of blood Is significantly longer than that of acute or chronic MI. The proposed multicontrast delayed-enhancement (MCODE) Imaging method produces a series of images with both T1 and T2 weightings, which provides both excellent contrast between normal and infarcted myocardium, and between blood and MI. Results: The subendocardial border between MI and blood pool was easily discriminated in the T 2-weighted image. The measured MI-to-blood contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was better in the T2-weighted image than in the T 1-weighted Image (22.5 ± 8.7 vs. 2.9 ± 3.1, mean ± SD, N = 11, P < 0.001, for TrueFISP, and 19.4 ± 10.8 vs. 3.9 ± 2.3, N = 11, P < 0.001, for TurboFLASH). Conclusion: The MCODE method provides a significant improvement in the ability to easily discriminate subendocardial MI by providing a T2-weighted image with high contrast between blood and MI. MCODE should improve both the detection and accurate sizing of MI.