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Myocardial perfusion imaging using a non-contrast agent MR imaging technique

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Abstract

Introduction: A MR imaging (MRI) method has been developed to determine quantitatively myocardial perfusion (P) in the rat heart in vivo. This method has the potential to non-invasively measure cardiac perfusion without the use of a contrast agent by exploiting the endogenous contrast from flowing blood itself. Method and Results: Principle of the technique is the arterial spin labeling of endogenous water protons within the short axis imaging slice. Arterial spin labeling techniques are based on a model that uses inflow effects to relate intrinsic changes in longitudinal relaxation (T 1) to tissue perfusion. Perfusion is determined from the difference between a slice selective and a global inversion recovery experiment. Perfusion was determined at rest and during hyperemia induced by intravenous adenosine (3 mg/(kgmin)). The MR perfusion values were compared with perfusion data obtained in the same animal using the colored microspheres (MS) technique as the gold standard. The MR perfusion (mean ± SEM) was 3.3 ± 0.2 ml/min/g at rest and 4.6 ± 0.6 ml/min/g during adenosine. Perfusion values obtained by colored MS were 3.4 ± 0.2 and 4.7 ± 0.8 ml/min/g at rest and during vasodilation, respectively. Adenosine decreased mean arterial pressure (MAP) from 120 to 65 mmHg which implies a reduction of coronary resistance (CR) to about 50% of baseline. Conclusion: Our study shows that quantitative mapping of perfusion may be performed non-invasively by MRI. The MR perfusion data are in excellent correlation with data obtained by the well-established colored MS technique. Determination of perfusion reserve confirms that coronary perfusion is highly dependent on blood pressure due to changes in CR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medizinische Universitätsklinik Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Christiane Waller, Georg Ertl & Wolfgang R. Bauer

  2. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Hiller, Sabine Voll & Axel Haase

Authors
  1. Christiane Waller
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  2. Karl-Heinz Hiller
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  3. Sabine Voll
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  4. Axel Haase
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  5. Georg Ertl
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  6. Wolfgang R. Bauer
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Waller, C., Hiller, KH., Voll, S. et al. Myocardial perfusion imaging using a non-contrast agent MR imaging technique. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 17, 123–132 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010603217785

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