Real-time, multi-shot imaging improves image quality in an iCMR simulation study

Motivation: Interventional cardiac MRI (iCMR) can be used to guide catheterizations, but image quality is limited by real-time imaging constraints (acquisition/reconstruction times). Goal(s): To evaluate the extent to which real-time multi-shot imaging (via adaptive radial k-space sampling, ARKS) improves iCMR image quality relative to single-shot imaging. Approach: Both ARKS and golden angle radial sampling were simulated using pediatric ECG recordings. Image quality was evaluated via mean squared error (MSE) and structural similarity index metric (SSIM). Results: ARKS increases the number of samples available for reconstruction, relative to single shot imaging with the same temporal footprint. This led to lower MSE and higher SSIM. Impact: Multi-shot real-time imaging has the potential to significantly improve interventional imaging by increasing the amount of data available for image reconstruction. In this study, we demonstrate that combining multi-shot data can improve image quality.