Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026
Retrospective Cardiac Gating with A Prototype Small-Animal X-ray Computed Tomograph
Published on: February 21, 2025
Whole-heart imaging using undersampled radial phase encoding (RPE) and iterative sensitivity encoding (SENSE)
R Boubertakh1, C Prieto, P G Batchelor
1King's College London, British Heart Foundation (BHF) Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's & St Thomas' National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Whole-heart isotropic nonangulated cardiac MRI (CMR) simplifies scans but is slow. This study introduces a novel 3D acquisition combining Cartesian and radial sampling, significantly improving image quality and reducing scan times, even at high acceleration factors.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
Background:
- Whole-heart isotropic nonangulated cardiac MRI (CMR) simplifies protocols by eliminating complex angulation planning.
- However, long acquisition times limit whole-heart MRI due to large fields of view (FOVs) and high spatial resolution requirements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a faster 3D whole-heart CMR acquisition method.
- To improve image quality in accelerated whole-heart MRI scans.
Main Methods:
- Proposed a 3D acquisition combining Cartesian sampling (readout) with undersampled radial sampling (phase-encoding plane).
- Investigated various undersampling patterns with iterative sensitivity encoding (SENSE) reconstruction and a 32-channel cardiac coil.
- Evaluated performance using noise amplification maps and implemented the radial phase-encoding (RPE) scheme on a clinical scanner.
Main Results:
- The radial phase-encoding (RPE) scheme demonstrated superior image quality compared to Cartesian acquisitions.
- The method maintained good image quality even with high acceleration factors, up to 12.
- Tested successfully on phantoms and healthy volunteers.
Conclusions:
- The proposed 3D acquisition scheme effectively reduces whole-heart MRI acquisition times.
- This technique offers improved image quality at high acceleration factors, making CMR more feasible.
- The RPE method represents a significant advancement for accelerated cardiac MRI.
