Feasibility of Three-Dimensional Balanced Steady-State Free Precession Cine Magnetic Resonance Imaging Combined with an Image Denoising Technique to Evaluate Cardiac Function in Children with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot

Figures

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  Fig. 1. Flowchart for denoising. GLD = gray level difference, NLM = non-local means

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  Fig. 2. Comparison of cine 2D b-SSFP and cine 3D b-SSFP images in different planes. Figure A–H images acquired using 2D b-SSFP (A–D) and 3D b-SSFP (E–H) with free breathing in short axis, RVOT, 4CH, and LV 2CH respectively. Figure I–P images acquired using 2D b-SSFP (I–L) and 3D b-SSFP (M–P) with breath hold in short axis, RVOT, 4CH, and LV 2CH respectively. Cine 3D b-SSFP is a non-isotropic sequence; however, the RVOT orientation is similar to the short axis, such that, the image quality of the reformatted image is acceptable but will suffer in 4CH or 2CH orientations. b-SSFP = balanced steady-state free precession, D = dimensional, LV = left ventricle, RVOT = right ventricular outflow tract, 2CH = 2-chamber, 4CH = 4-chamber

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  Fig. 3. A 7-year-old boy with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Cine cardiac magnetic resonance under free breathing scanning. Matching the mid-ventricular short-axis slice acquired using 2D b-SSFP (A, D), 3D b-SSFP (B, E), and 3D denoising (C, F). The representative end-systolic and end-diastolic period figures are A, B, C and D, E, F, respectively. b-SSFP = balanced steady-state free precession, D = dimensional

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  Fig. 4. A 15-year-old girl with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Cine cardiac magnetic resonance under breath hold scanning. Matching the mid-ventricular short-axis slice acquired using 2D b-SSFP (A, D), 3D b-SSFP (B, E), and 3D denoising (C, F). The representative end-systolic and end-diastolic period figures are A, B, C and D, E, F, respectively. b-SSFP = balanced steady-state free precession, D = dimensional