An analytical model which determines the apparent T 1 for Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery – Analysis of the longitudinal relaxation under the influence of discontinuous balanced (classical MOLLI) and spoiled gradient echo readouts

Single breath-hold MR T1 mapping in the heart: Hybrid MOLLI combining saturation and inversion recovery

The native T1 values of the myocardium provide valuable information for tissue characterization and assessment of cardiomyopathies. In this study, we proposed a novel hybrid MOLLI sequence for myocardial T1 mapping. Unlike the two groups of inversion-recovery sampling of the conventional MOLLI5(3 s)3 sequence, the hybrid MOLLI sequence consisted of an inversion-recovery block followed by a saturation-recovery block. Since the second block employed a saturation pulse to spoil the longitudinal magnetization, it did not require a waiting period as MOLLI5(3 s)3 did. As a result, the hybrid MOLLI required less acquisition time leading to a practical application for patients with breath-hold difficulties. Phantom and healthy subject experiments were performed to evaluate the proposed sequence against the MOLLI5(3 s)3 sequence. The phantom study showed that the heart-rate dependency of one variant of the hybrid MOLLI sequences, hbMOLLI4, was comparable to that of MOLLI5(3 s)3. In addition, both hbMOLLI4 and MOLLI53 derived T1 values under 2% variations with simulated heart rates from 50 to 90 beats-per-minute within the range of T1 values for myocardium and blood before contrast administration. Simulation results suggested slightly reduced T1 fitting precision in hbMOLLI4 compared with MOLLI5(3 s)3, but prominently better than saturation recovery. Bland-Altman analysis on accuracy assessment revealed that hbMOLLI4 partially reduced the T1 underestimation of MOLLI5(3 s)3. In the human study, The T1 values of both methods were consistent (hbMOLLI4 vs. MOLLI5(3 s)3, slope = 1.14, R² > 0.97), with equal reproducibility. The results supported that hybrid MOLLI produced comparable T1 mapping results in terms of accuracy, reproducibility, and heart-rate dependency, at the expense of slightly reduced precision. We concluded that the hybrid MOLLI sequence presents a competitive alternative to the MOLLI5(3 s)3 sequence when a speedy acquisition is required.

Modified look-locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) T1 mapping with inversion group (IG) fitting - A method for improved precision

MOLLI-based T1 mapping has been applied to a variety of cardiac pathologies. However, conventional MOLLI's requirement for rest periods between inversion groups increases scan time, and limits the choice of inversion groups. The recently developed inversion group (IG) fitting technique eliminates the rest period requirement, and permits complete flexibility of inversion groups. However, a limitation is that its T1 maps have low precision - up to 30% poorer than conventional 3-parameter methods. In the original IG method, T1 maps were derived from the first inversion group only. In the present study, a technique is presented which utilize data from all inversion groups to generate T1 maps. It is hypothesized this "composite-IG" fitting method will provided improved prevision over conventional-IG T1 mapping methods. Simulations, phantom, and in vivo experiments on nine clinical cardiac patients (congenital heart disease, ischemic- and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy) were performed. Imaging was performed on a 1.5 T Siemens scanner. Myocardial T1 mapping precision and reproducibility were calculated for conventional-IG, composite-IG, and 3-parameter techniques. Precision and reproducibility between the techniques was compared using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test. Statistical significance was set at the 95% confidence level, with the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons employed. Composite-IG improves precision by 16-38% over conventional-IG (p < 0.01). Composite-IG T1 maps provided up to 5% better precision than 3-parameter fits (p < 0.01). Composite-IG had better reproducibility than conventional-IG (p < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference between composite-IG and conventional 5(3)3 3-parameter reproducibility.