Open‐source myocardial T1 mapping with simultaneous multi‐slice acceleration: Combining an auto‐calibrated blipped‐bSSFP readout with VERSE‐MB pulses

Purpose Enabling fast and accessible myocardial T 1 mapping is crucial for extending its clinical application. We introduce Open‐MOLLI‐SMS combining simultaneous multi‐slice (SMS) with auto‐calibration and variable‐rate selective excitation (VERSE)‐multiband pulses to obtain all slices in a fast single‐shot T 1 mapping sequence. Methods Open‐MOLLI‐SMS was developed by integrating SMS with the open‐source method Open‐MOLLI previously implemented in Pulseq. Three methods were integrated for Open‐MOLLI‐SMS: (1) auto‐calibration blip patterns to ensure consistency between the data and coil information; (2) a blipped‐balanced SSFP (bSSFP) readout to induce controlled aliasing in parallel imaging shifts without disturbing the bSSFP frequency response; and (3) a VERSE‐multiband pulse for minimizing the achievable TR and the specific absortion rate (SAR) impact of SMS. Two (SMS2) or three (SMS3) slices were excited simultaneously and encoded with an in‐plane acceleration factor of 2. Experiments were performed in the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine/National Institute of Standards and Technology phantom and five healthy volunteers. Results Phantom results show accurate T 1 estimates for reference values between 400 to 2200 ms. Artifacts were visible for Open‐MOLLI‐SMS3 but not replicated in vivo. In vivo Open‐MOLLI‐SMS (T 1 SMS2 = 993 ± 10 ms; T 1 SMS3 = 1031 ± 17 ms) provided similar values to mean T 1 single‐band Open‐MOLLI estimates (T 1 Open‐MOLLI = 1005 ± 47 ms). Open‐MOLLI‐SMS2 provided the closest estimates to the reference. Conclusion This proof‐of‐principle implementation study demonstrates the feasibility of speeding up T 1 ‐mapping acquisitions and increasing coverage by combining auto‐calibration strategies with a blipped‐bSFFP readout and VERSE multiband RF excitation pulses. The proposed methodology was built on the Open‐MOLLI mapping sequence, which provides a fast means for prototyping and enables open‐source sharing of the method.