Cardiac MR Imaging: New Advances and Role of 3T

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Over the last decade, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging has increasingly evolved into a useful diagnostic tool among the radiology and cardiology communities. Ongoing improvements in MR imaging hardware, processing speed, and pulse sequence development have laid the foundation for rapid progress in cardiac MR imaging. This article summarizes developing techniques and technique-related aspects, and the advantages and possible pitfalls of 3T in particular.

Section snippets

Potential advantages of 3T

The main advantage of MR imaging at higher magnetic field is the potential SNR gain. Theoretically, imaging at 3T leads to a two-fold increase in SNR, as compared with 1.5T, as the signal increases with B02, whereas noise contributions increase with B0[15]. These theoretical SNR advantages at 3T are of the most relevance for applications with borderline SNR at 1.5T, such as contrast-enhanced MR angiography, coronary MR angiography, and assessment of myocardial perfusion and viability.

In

Radiofrequency energy deposition

SAR increases almost quadratically with field strength (SAR∞B02). This limits the maximum allowable flip angles and the minimum achievable repetition time (TR), which in turn can restrict RF intensive techniques at 3T, such as SSFP cine and spin-echo train imaging.

Field inhomogeneity

Increased B0 inhomogeneity and T2∗\ susceptibility effects are well known anticipated problems at higher magnetic field [21], [22], [23]. These factors may result in regional shading and focal T2∗-induced signal loss (dark banding) or

Dark-blood anatomic imaging

After integration of ECG-gating with spin-echo imaging, the resulted dark blood images of the myocardium and cardiac chambers has gained broad acceptance in cardiac MR clinical applications [32], [33], [34], [35]. Black-blood preparation schemes for spin-echo imaging of the heart and blood vessels routinely involve a double inversion pulse pair [36], [37].

Dark blood imaging may benefit at 3T for two reasons:

  • 1.

    The higher readout bandwidth allows for shorter minimal echo times in spin-echo

Summary

Cardiac MR imaging is evolving rapidly and has matured to the point where it is now widely accepted as a powerful diagnostic tool with significant clinical and research applications. Although the majority of cardiac MR applications seems to be feasible at 3T, with performance and image quality at least similar to or higher in comparison with 1.5T, SAR limitations and susceptibility effects remain a primary concern, with potential challenges ahead. The integration of parallel imaging with 3T,

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