• Yasuo Amano, Yoshio Matsumura, and Shinichiro Kumita.
• Department of Radiology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan. yas-amano@nifty.com
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2008 Dec 1; 28 (6): 1361-7.

PurposeTo assess the feasibility of free-breathing high-spatial-resolution delayed contrast-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) viability magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3.0 T for the detection of myocardial damages.Materials And MethodsTwenty-five patients with myocardial diseases, including myocardial infarction and cardiomyopathies, were enrolled after informed consent was given. Free-breathing 3D viability MRI with high spatial resolution (1.5 x 1.25 x 2.5 mm) at 3.0 T, for which cardiac and navigator gating techniques were employed, was compared with breath-hold two-dimensional (2D) viability imaging (1.77 x 1.18 x 10 mm) for assessment of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and myocardial damage.ResultsFree-breathing 3D viability imaging was achieved successfully in 21 of the 25 patients. This imaging technique depicted 84.6% of hyperenhancing myocardium with a higher CNR between hyperenhancing myocardium and blood and with excellent agreement for the transmural extension of myocardial damage (k = 0.91). In particular, the 3D viability images delineated the myocardial infarction and linear hyperenhancing myocardium, comparable to the 2D viability images.ConclusionFree-breathing high-spatial-resolution delayed contrast-enhanced 3D viability MRI using 3.0 T was feasible for the evaluation of hyperenhancing myocardium, as seen with myocardial infarction and cardiomyopathies.(c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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