Image Quality of Submillimeter High-Spatial-Resolution 2D Late Gadolinium-enhanced Images in Cardiac MRI: A Feasibility Study

• Published in: Radiology. Cardiothoracic imaging 2022-12, Vol.4 (6), p.e220111-e220111
• Main Authors: Ohta, Yasutoshi, Nishii, Tatsuya, Nagai, Yasuhiro, Ichiba, Yoshito, Tateishi, Emi, Kotoku, Akiyuki, Horinouchi, Hiroki, Fukuyama, Midori, Morita, Yoshiaki, Fukuda, Tetsuya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original Research
• ISSN: 2638-6135; 2638-6135
• DOI: 10.1148/ryct.220111

To evaluate the image quality of high-spatial-resolution two-dimensional (2D) late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac MRI compared with conventional normal-resolution LGE MRI. This prospective study included participants suspected of having cardiomyopathy who underwent cardiac MRI between March 2021 and December 2021. Normal-resolution and high-resolution 2D LGE sequences (inversion recovery [IR] and phase-sensitive inversion recovery [PSIR]) were performed at 3 T. Resolution was compared between normal-resolution and high-resolution images obtained in a quality assurance phantom. In vivo image quality and resolution were evaluated qualitatively using a five-point scoring system. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used for LGE detection performance. Border sharpness was assessed with profile curve measurement. The contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between hyperenhancement and remote myocardium and LGE detection performance were calculated using normal-resolution IR images as the reference. In total, 120 participants were evaluated (mean age, 56 years ± 17 [SD]; 72 men). Features smaller than 1 mm were detectable only on high-resolution images of the phantom. In vivo, the image resolution score with high-resolution LGE was 4.14-4.24, which was higher than the normal-resolution LGE reference score of 2.99 ( < .05). Border sharpness was higher in high-resolution images ( < .001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed no evidence of a difference in LGE detection between normal-resolution and high-resolution images. There was also no evidence of a change in CNR of LGE in IR and PSIR magnitude compared with reference images. Comparison of image quality in 2D high-resolution and normal-resolution LGE cardiac MRI demonstrated the highest resolution for high-resolution IR and high-resolution PSIR magnitude sequences. Cartilage Imaging, MRI, Cardiac, Heart, Imaging Sequences, Comparative Studies © RSNA, 2022.