VENTRICULAR FUNCTION Evaluation of Left Ventricular Volumes and Ejection Fraction Using Fast Steady-State Cine MR Imaging: Comparison with Left Ventricular Angiography

Previous studies demonstrated that magnetic resonance (MR) imaging consistently underestimated angiographic measurements of left ventricular (LV) volumes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether MR imaging with steady-state free precession acquisition (SSFP) can provide improved accuracy and reproducibility in measuring cardiac function in comparison with fast spoiled gradient echo cine MR imaging (SPGR). Twenty patients with cardiovascular diseases who underwent breath-hold cine MR imaging within one week of LV angiography were studied. Two sets of breath-hold cine MR images were obtained, one with SSFP and another with SPGR. The LV volumes determined by two breath-hold cine MR sequences were compared with the results by LV angiography. SPGR cine MR imaging consistently underestimated angiographic LV volumes. The mean difference of LV end-diastolic volume was 222.5 ^14.8 ml (p, 0.001) for short-axis planes and 227.7 ^21.5 ml (p, 0.001) for long-axis planes. In contrast, LV volumes measured by the SSFP imaging showed a good agreement with the results by angiography. The mean difference of LV end-diastolic volume was 22.5 ^14.3 ml (p N.S.) for short-axis planes and 210.