Free-breathing rapid T1 mapping for the dynamic response quantification of contrast-enhanced whole-heart myocardium

Motivation: Early gadolinium enhancement has the potential for myocardial tissue characterization while not yet widely adopted due to the natural of the contrast agent kinetics. Goal(s): This study aims to develop a Dynamic Approach for Rapid T1 mapping (DART) to quantify the dynamic T1 values with sufficient spatial-temporal resolution and whole heart coverage. Approach: DART combined dynamic and stable phase into a single free-breathing scan with interleaved slice-tracking multi-slice acquisition. By sharing the equilibrium magnetization estimated from the stable phase, dynamic T1 was calculated. Results: DART sequence was validated through phantom and in-vivo studies. The dynamic T1 time course can be traced successfully. Impact: The porposed DART sequence is feasible to quantify the dynamic pixel-wised myocardial T1 values with sufficient spatial-temporal resolution and whole heart coverage. It is potential useful to trace the dynamic response of myocardium during early gadolinium enhancement.