3D isotropic dual-phase whole-heart MRI with interleaved cardiac-triggered acquisition at 3.0T: Initial clinical experience

Motivation: 3D dual-phase whole-heart MRI has shown advantage for simultaneous morphological and functional cardiac imaging but is so far not available at 3.0T due to bSSFP susceptibility artifacts and specific absorption rate limitation at high field. Goal(s): Our goal was to develop a new sequence to circumvent the problems and allow 3D dual-phase whole-heart MRI for high-field cardiac imaging. Approach: We implemented an interleaved cardiac-triggered acquisition with non-balanced readout and applied it in patients with congenital heart disease at 3.0T. Results: 3D dual-phase whole-heart MRI at 3.0T successfully depicted morphological and functional changes within one single scan in concordance with standard techniques. Impact: 3D isotropic dual-phase whole-heart MRI with interleaved ECG-triggered acquisition and non-balanced readout now permits visualization and assessment of cardiac morphology and function with high resolutions within one single scan at 3.0T and promises wider clinical applications in congenital heart disease.