Adaptive Heart Rate Prediction for Black-Blood Systolic Imaging

International audienceCardiac MRI is still challenging due to the perpetual heart motion. In order to avoid cardiac motion artifacts, acquisitions are synchronized with heart activity, generally by triggering on R-waves of the Electrocardiogram (ECG). Double Inversion Recovery Fast Spin Echo (DIR-FSE) sequences, resulting in black-blood images, require furthermore specific timing. For such acquisitions, inversion time (TI) is needed to cancel blood signals (~500ms) [1], making acquisitions in the first 500ms of the cardiac cycle impossible. Black-blood imaging allows then only diastolic view of the heart. Moreover heart rate (HR) variability has been shown to be important during breath-holds [2] making cardiac synchronization even more complicated. In this paper, a RR interval prediction method has been implemented, which permits to launch DIR pulses before R waves and thus enables black blood systolic imaging