Dennis J. Atkinson, MS #{149}Robert R. Edelman, MD Cineangiography of the Heart in a Single Breath Hold with a Segmented TurboFLASH Sequence’

Six healthy volunteers and three pa-tients with cardiac anomalies were studied in a comparison of segment-ed turboFLASH (fast low-angle shot) cine, a method of magnetic resonance imaging that permits an entire series of high-resolution cine images to be obtained in one breath hold, with standard cine. Segmented turboFLASH uses a gradient-echo sequence designed for short imag-ing times in combination with a segmented data acquisition method. Presaturation pulses were applied to eliminate the blood pool signal; the signal-to-noise ratio was assessed with a phantom. Standard hardware and image reconstruction methods were used. The breath-hold images consistently showed reduced ghost-ing and blurring from respiration. Because a very short echo time was used, segmented turboFLASH was relatively insensitive to dephasing caused by local field disturbances or flow. The authors conclude that, by reducing imaging times and elimi-nating respiratory artifact, segment-ed turboFLASH can be useful for performing cine studies of the heart and great vessels