Global and Regional Test-Retest Reproducibility of Native T1 and T2 Mapping in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging

BACKGROUND Mapping of T1 and T2 relaxation times in cardiac MRI is an invaluable tool for the diagnosis and risk stratification of a wide spectrum of cardiac diseases. PURPOSE To investigate the global and regional reproducibility of native T1 and T2 mapping and to analyze the influence of demographic factors, physiological parameters, slice position, and myocardial regions on reproducibility. STUDY TYPE Prospective single-center cohort-study. POPULATION Fifty healthy volunteers (29 female, 21 male) with a mean age of 39.4 ± 13.7 years. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE Each volunteer was investigated twice at 1.5 T using a modified look-locker inversion-recovery (MOLLI) sequence (T1 mapping) and a T2-prepared steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequence (T2 mapping). ASSESSMENT Global T1 and T2 values were quantified for the entire left ventricle in three short-axis slices. Regional T1 and T2 values were measured for each myocardial segment and for myocardial segments grouped by slice position and anatomical region. STATISTICAL TESTS Test-retest reproducibility was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman statistics. A P value