Improved 3T Adiabatic T2-Prep for Cardiac T2-Mapping

Cardiac T2-mapping allows quantifying myocardial edema resulting from events, such as, acute myocardial infarction, myocarditis and tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy. Many T2-mapping sequences exist in literature, however, most have design shortcuts that degrade their consistency, accuracy and prognostic value. We previously reported our sequence that T2-maps at end-systole (ES) for maximum wall thickness, minimized artifacts, and had four-point T2 curve-fits3. Here we present an improved 3T T2prep with four adiabatic pulses to eliminate prep inhomogeneity. This new 3T T2-mapping sequence produces T2maps at ES within 22 seconds breath hold. Pre-testing on phantoms and validation on healthy human volunteers demonstrated superior results.