Accelerated, Free-Breathing 3D Cardiac T1ρ Mapping Pulse Sequence with XD-GRASP Reconstruction

T1ρ mapping is an emerging non-contrast pulse sequence for measuring cardiac fibrosis. Unfortunately, current T1ρ techniques suffer from lack of coverage, poor spatial resolution, and long scan time. Thus, we developed an accelerated, free-breathing 3D cardiac T1ρ mapping pulse sequence using XD-GRASP reconstruction including both respiratory and contrast dimensions; additionally, view sharing and KWIC filtering were incorporated to improve spatial resolution. This sequence was tested in 8 patients undergoing clinically indicated cardiac MRI, resulting in robust image quality and T1ρ values that are in agreement with literature.