“Two‐For‐One”: 4D Cardiac and Pulmonary MR Imaging From a Single Acquisition Using bSTAR

Purpose To generate 4D (3D+time) images of both the heart and lungs using a single volumetric radial free‐breathing bSSFP dual echo acquisition (bSTAR) with two image reconstructions within a single pipeline deployed inline at 0.55 and 1.5 T. Methods 10 healthy volunteers and 12 patients with cardiomyopathy, lung diseases, or pulmonary hypertension were imaged at 0.55 T. Left‐ventricular volumetry was compared to 2D cine images for the cardiac images. Image quality score was measured by two expert readers for cardiac and pulmonary bSTAR images. Results Cardiac and pulmonary images were reconstructed inline in 18 min 28 s and 8 min 39 s respectively. Ejection Fraction measurements showed no significant difference (mean bias −0.39%, p > 0.05) between bSTAR and 2D cines. Experts scored whole heart bSTAR images fair‐to‐good (image quality score of 3.47 ± 0.58) and whole lung bSTAR images as good (image quality score of 3.94 ± 0.85). Conclusion The ability to assess both cardiac and lung morphology and function in a single scan with parallel image reconstructions will facilitate the evaluation of the cardio‐pulmonary interplay. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03331380