Comparative Analysis of Cardiac T1 Mapping Reliability: Free-Breathing Versus Breath-Hold Techniques

Motivation: Quantitative myocardial T1 mapping is an invaluable tool for detection and characterization of myocardial fibrosis and infarction. Recent emergence of free-breathing non-ECG-gated techniques requires evaluation of their reliability in controlled experiments. Goal(s): We evaluated repeatability of free-breathing non-ECG-gated Multitasking and breath-held MOLLI T1 mapping techniques and studied factors influencing them. Approach: Test-retest study was performed in 15 healthy adult volunteers. Bland-Altman plots and Spearman rank correlation were used for statistical analysis. Results: Our analysis reveals that while free-breathing technique has low bias, controlling data sampling patterns is needed to prevent high variability of test-retest measurements. Impact: Reliability of myocardial T1 mapping with free-breathing techniques may benefit from designing controlled data sampling patterns utilizing either external or self-calibrated cardiac/respiratory triggers.