The effect of electrocardiogram missed-triggering on T1 measurements in cardiac MRI

Motivation: In cardiac MRI, the impact of ECG missed-triggering events on MOLLI 5(3)3 T1 mapping accuracy has not been fully studied despite its common use in clinical service. Goal(s): This work investigated how missed-triggering affects myocardial T1 measurements at normal heart rates. Approach: We developed a framework to simulate missed-triggering events along the T1 inversion recovery curve in phantom data. Results: Specific combinations of missed-triggering events resulted in significant T1 estimation errors. The maximum absolute T1 measurement error across all missed-triggering events stayed below 13%, suggesting MOLLI 5(3)3 is a robust technique for cardiac T1 mapping at normal heart rates. Impact: The robustness of MOLLI 5(3)3 cardiac T1 mapping in the presence of ECG missed-triggering events at normal heart rates has been investigated, allowing clinicians to gain an insight into its diagnostic value, where ECG is not reliable due to missed-triggering.