MyoFold: Joint myocardial tissue composition and wall motion quantification via a highly folded sequence.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) Imaging
• Myocardial Tissue Characterization
• Cardiac Function Assessment

Background:

• Accurate quantification of myocardial tissue composition and function is crucial for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases.
• Existing cardiovascular MR techniques often require separate acquisitions for tissue characterization and motion assessment, increasing scan time.
• There is a need for efficient, multitasking MR sequences to streamline cardiac evaluations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate MyoFold, a novel cardiovascular MR sequence for simultaneous quantification of myocardial tissue composition and wall motion.
• To assess the accuracy and precision of MyoFold in T1 and T2 mapping compared to established methods.
• To validate MyoFold's ability to accurately measure left-ventricle wall thickness and function.

Main Methods:

• MyoFold is a 2D single breath-hold sequence integrating joint T1/T2 mapping and cine imaging.
• It employs 2-fold accelerated balanced SSFP (bSSFP) with ECG synchronization and T2 preparation.
• T1 and T2 values are calculated using a neural network trained on numerical simulations; validation was performed in phantoms and in vivo.

Main Results:

• Phantom studies showed a 10% T1 overestimation but accurate T2 measurements.
• In vivo, MyoFold T1 accuracy was comparable to SASHA, with precision similar to MOLLI.
• MyoFold T2 measurements agreed well with T2-prep bSSFP, and wall motion quantification matched conventional cine.

Conclusions:

• MyoFold is a rapid, simple, and multitasking quantitative cardiovascular MR sequence.
• It enables simultaneous assessment of myocardial tissue composition and wall motion.
• MyoFold shows promise for comprehensive cardiac evaluations in clinical practice.