Free-breathing 3D high-resolution Dixon late gadolinium enhancement imaging for scar assessment in chronic myocardial infarction at 3T

Motivation: Commonly used 2D late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging can suffer from slice misregistration, respiratory ghosts, and spatial resolution constraints. Goal(s): We aimed to evaluate the clinical feasibility of a free-breathing high-resolution 3D Dixon LGE imaging prototype with image-based navigation on a 3T system. Approach: Image quality, semiautomatic LGE quantification, and scan time were evaluated and compared between the prototype and conventional breath-held 2D LGE imaging. Results: Image quality was comparable between techniques. Size and extent of scar were comparable between 3D in-phase and 2D LGE images. The 3D sequence had a significantly shorter mean acquisition time than did the 2D sequence. Impact: Free-breathing 3D Dixon LGE imaging with image-based navigation is clinically feasible, shows agreement with the 2D reference method, clearly delineates fibrosis and fat infiltration, and can be performed in a shorter scan time than that of the 2D sequence.