Comparative Evaluation of Third-Order Motion-Compensated DT-CMR Across Cardiac Phases Using an Ultra-High-Performance Clinical Scanner

Motivation: DT-CMR enables characterisations of myocardial dynamics with STEAM sequence. Second-order MCSE (M2-MCSE) was found to be unreliable in diastolic DT-CMR imaging. Third-order MCSE (M3-MCSE) potentially improves motion compensation, but its robustness remains unknown across the cardiac cycle. Goal(s): Evaluate the performance of M3-MCSE DT-CMR in systole and diastole. Approach: Compared M3-MCSE, M2-MCSE, and STEAM DT-CMR data in systole and diastole on 20 healthy volunteers (HVs) and ADCs across various TDs within diastasis on 5 HVs. Results: M3-MCSE data quality was lowered due to prolonged TE but worked at a similar diastolic range compared to M2-MCSE. STEAM had more consistent data quality across volunteers. Impact: We conducted the first in-human evaluation of M3-MCSE for diastolic imaging, comparing it with STEAM and M2-MCSE across various cardiac phases. Findings suggest the importance of further optimising higher-order motion compensation with shorter TE to enhance MCSE clinical potential.