Toward a 6-minute quantitative multi-dimensional assessment of cardiovascular system (qMACS)

Motivation: MR holds great potential for comprehensive cardiovascular imaging. However, conventional protocols are prohibitively long and highly demanding for expertise and patient cooperation. Goal(s): To develop a quantitative multi-dimensional assessment of cardiovascular system (qMACS) technique that provides multi-contrast qualitative and quantitative cardioaortic imaging through a 6-min scan. Approach: qMACS builds on a continuous magnetization-prepared hybrid-radial FLASH acquisition and an optimized image reconstruction pipeline based on MR Multitasking. Phantom and human studies were performed at 3T. Results: qMACS provided good to excellent qualitative and quantitative imaging based on assessment of image quality scores, inter-reader agreement, and comparison with reference mapping methods. Impact: qMACS is a time-efficient and patient-friendly technique for simultaneous quantitative and qualitative imaging of the whole cardioaortic system and may be used as a gatekeeper approach to the diagnosis of a variety of cardiovascular diseases.