Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy in imaging viability of the myocardium with a multislice inversions recovery 2D single shot TrueFISP sequence and an established inversion recovery TurboFlash sequence.
Material and methods: Twelve patients with myocardial infarction were examined at a 1.5 tesla MR system (Sonata, Siemens, Medical Systems) 10 min after application of a single dose multihance (0,1 mmol/kg body weight) with a 2D multislice technique (inversion recovery single shot TrueFISP), that allows to image the entire short axis during one breathhold and a 2D single slice technique (inversion recovery TurboFlash), that requires one breathhold per slice. Signal intensity was determined in normal myocardium, in the infarcted myocardium and in the left ventricle. The contrast/noise ratio of normal and infarcted myocardium was determined. The areas of hyperintense infarction were compared for both sequence techniques.
Results: The multislice single shot 2D IR-TrueFisp sequence has a lower contrast/noise ratio than the IR-TurboFlash sequence (mean values 6.9 vs. 12.5) for viable and non viable myocardium. The assessment of the volume of the infarction is possible with excellent correlation of both techniques (r=0.97, p <0.036). In addition, an assessment of the transmural extent of the infarction is possible with identical spatial resolution.
Conclusion: The inversions recovery 2D single shot TrueFisp technique allows for accurate detection of the infarction, for accurate determination of the area of the infarction and for assessment of the transmural extent of the infarction with high spatial resolution.