Single breath-hold left ventricular volume measurement by 0.3-sec turbo fast low-angle shot MR imaging

In this study, we measured global cardiac parameters during a single breath-hold using T1-weighted single-shot turbo fast low-angle shot (turboFLASH) MR imaging.

Ten cardiac patients who had undergone cardiac catheterization were examined with MR imaging to evaluate cardiac function. On average, 10 slices, which covered enough of the heart to measure the left ventricular volume, were acquired in a single breath-hold. During the acquisition of each slice, T1-weighted turboFLASH MR imaging with inversion recovery of both end diastole and end systole was sequentially accomplished twice in the same R-R interval. The end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, and ejection fraction calculated from MR images were compared with data obtained from left ventriculography.

In these 10 cardiac patients, the ejection fraction calculated from turboFLASH MR images showed a good correlation with the measurements from radiographic left ventriculography (r = .87). The inter- and intraobserver variabilities in calculating the ejection fraction were 7.8% and 4.7%, respectively.

Single-shot turboFLASH MR imaging with inversion recovery can provide data for the quantification of the ejection fraction during a single breath-hold.