Wideband arrhythmia-Insensitive-rapid (AIR) pulse sequence for cardiac T1 mapping without image artifacts induced by an implantable-cardioverter-defibrillator

Purpose To develop and evaluate a wideband arrhythmia-insensitive-rapid (AIR) pulse sequence for cardiac T₁ mapping without image artifacts induced by implantable-cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Methods We developed a wideband AIR pulse sequence by incorporating a saturation pulse with wide frequency bandwidth (8.9 kHz) to achieve uniform T₁ weighting in the heart with ICD. We tested the performance of original and "wideband" AIR cardiac T₁ mapping pulse sequences in phantom and human experiments at 1.5 Tesla. Results In five phantoms representing native myocardium and blood and postcontrast blood/tissue T₁ values, compared with the control T₁ values measured with an inversion-recovery pulse sequence without ICD, T₁ values measured with original AIR with ICD were considerably lower (absolute percent error > 29%), whereas T₁ values measured with wideband AIR with ICD were similar (absolute percent error < 5%). Similarly, in 11 human subjects, compared with the control T₁ values measured with original AIR without ICD, T₁ measured with original AIR with ICD was significantly lower (absolute percent error > 10.1%), whereas T₁ measured with wideband AIR with ICD was similar (absolute percent error < 2.0%). Conclusion This study demonstrates the feasibility of a wideband pulse sequence for cardiac T₁ mapping without significant image artifacts induced by ICD. Magn Reson Med 74:336-345, 2015.