Quantification of Myocardial Blood Flow using Radial Simultaneous Multi-Slice Perfusion MRI

Motivation: While simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) excitation has been proposed to increase the myocardial coverage for cardiac perfusion MRI, its influence on the quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) has not been evaluated. Goal(s): To determine whether SMS with multiband factor of two preserves accuracy in the quantification of MBF compared with the corresponding perfusion MRI with single-slice excitation. Approach: We prospectively enrolled six patients and performed standard and SMS perfusion MRI back-to-back and calculated the arterial input function (AIF) and resting MBF. Results: Both the AIF and MBF values calculated from the datasets acquired with the two perfusion sequences were comparable. Impact: This study demonstrates feasibility of utilizing a 2D simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) (multiband factor = 2) perfusion sequence to increase the myocardial coverage and quantify the myocardial blood flow to help coronary artery disease diagnosis.