Relative infarct size determined from histology compared to MRI.

<p>(A) Long axis cross sections through <i>ex vivo</i> ΔUTE images in post-MI mouse hearts obtained from subtraction of a long-TE (4 ms) from a short-TE (21 μs) T2*-weighted image. The left panels show a post-MI heart 2 days after surgery. The right panels show a post-MI heart with a chronic MI 7 days after surgery. A positive contrast is observed in the ΔUTE image, which corresponds to the location of the chronic MI. Corresponding Picrosirius red stained slices showed hardly any collagen in the MI heart 2 days after surgery, whereas excessive replacement fibrosis was present (arrows) in the chronic MI. (B) Correlation between the infarct size as percentage of the total heart volume determined from histology and the <i>ex vivo</i> ΔUTE images of control (n = 3) and MI hearts (n = 8). The solid line is a linear fit.