Koninklijke Philips N : In-depth information on Philips/CNIC’s new ultra-fast cardiac MRI technique for research purposes

During generation of the images, this SENSE factor interleaving allows the entire thoracic volume to be calibrated and divided into static (non-heart) and dynamic (heart) regions. The static regions are reconstructed once and then subtracted from subsequent image data sets - hence the name of the technique 'Enhanced SENSE by Static Outer-volume Subtraction' (ESSOS)  allowing the smaller volume dynamic regions to be reconstructed using higher SENSE factors with minimal noise amplification. These volume-specific SENSE factors allow high quality imaging of the heart in a much shorter time. Once the dynamic information is reconstructed, the static (outer volume) images are added to the dynamic images to generate a full 3D cardiac cine with isotropic resolution, allowing review from different views with good image resolution.

To fully assess the extent of damaged heart tissue, the first scan is followed by another single-breath-hold 3D scan to image the uptake of a gadolinium contrast agent injected into the patient before the procedure  a so-called late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) scan.

'Door to door', the entire procedure could take around a quarter to a fifth of the time currently required.

The results of a clinical trial in which more than 100 patients with various cardiac pathologies were examined using both the conventional and the new MR protocol, with the resulting images being evaluated by expert radiologists, demonstrated excellent agreement between LVEF and RVEF measurements made using each technique, as well as excellent agreement in the assessment of scar extension from LGE images [2].