Case Study | CARDIAC IMAGING
3D Cardiac Imaging:
Reduced Exam Slot From
43 Minutes to 30 Minutes
By Yoshinao Ishii, MD, Chief of the Cardiovascular Center, and Shinichi Kawasaki, RT,
Chief MR Radiologic Technologist, Asahikawa City Hospital, Japan;
Mitsuhiro Uike, MR Research Project Manager, GE Healthcare, Japan
Signa* HDxt 1.5T, Optima* Edition
In our institution, we perform an average of 10 cardiac cases each week, in which
90% are related to ischemic heart disease and 10% are non-ischemic. In 80% of
the ischemic exams, including patients with a heart rate less than 80 bpm, we have
replaced multi breath-hold 2D MDE with a single breath-hold 3D MDE acquisition
for assessing myocardial infarction. Cine IR is used in all cardiac cases to determine
the optimal TI time for MDE acquisition.
Data collection
A retrospective review of 200 patient cardiac exams, acquired between January
and August, 2011, was completed (100 with 2D protocol, 100 with 3D protocol).
Overall protocol times, including breathing time, were assessed.
Conventional 2D MDE protocol for ischemic heart disease evaluation was compared to
the 3D MDE protocol. A TI test with conventional protocols was performed by acquiring
three 2D MDE slices at different TI times while a single breath-hold Cine IR was used in
the new protocol. Three single breath-hold 3D MDE acquisitions (in short axis, 2 long
axes view) were used in place of 10 multi breath-hold 2D MDE acquisitions.
MR parameters
2D MDE 3D MDE Cine IR
TR: 5. 7 TR: 4.0 TR: 4. 5
TE: 2. 6 TE: 1.9 TE: 2.0
BW: 31. 3 kHz BW: 41. 7 kHz BW: 31. 3 kHz
FA: 20 FA: 15 FA: 10
Matrix: 192 x 160 Matrix: 192 x 180 Matrix: 128 x 128
Slice: 10 mm Slice: 10 mm Slice: 8 mm
FOV: 36 cm FOV: 36 cm Spacing: 2 mm
pFOV: 0.75 pFOV: 0.9 FOV: 36 cm
TD: Diastole1 Locs/slab: 10 pFOV: 0.9
# RR: 2 TD: Diastole1 ph: 60
RR: 2, RR: 2
CV Turbo mode: 2
1 If the patient has high HR (>80) or arrhythmia, we usually select systolic phase as TD.
GEHEALTHCARE.COM/MR
40
SPRING 2012
