Fetal cardiac 3D cine MRI at low field - whole heart slice-to-volume reconstruction from real-time spiral SSFP at 0.55T

Spiral SSFP of the fetal heart at low-field has the advantage of low artifact and high sampling efficiency, compared to conventional systems. This work demonstrates the feasibility of spiral SSFP on a high-performance 0.55 T scanner to produce high spatiotemporal resolution real-time 2D and motion-corrected slice-to-volume super-resolution reconstructed 3D cine images of the heart and great vessels of the human fetus in utero. Patient comfort is improved with the use of a low-field scanner, while motion-robust slice-to-volume reconstruction allows for free-breathing acquisitions that do not require precise scan plane prescriptions during acquisition.