Quantitative whole-heart three-dimensional magnetic resonance myocardial perfusion imaging in systole and diastole at 3.0T

Background Two-dimensional (2D) perfusion-CMR has been shown to have greater diagnostic accuracy than single-photon emission computed tomography but remains limited by a lack of complete myocardial coverage. Three-dimensional (3D) whole-heart myocardial perfusion CMR addresses this limitation and has recently been shown to be clinically feasible. However, the feasibility and potential clinical utility of quantitative 3D perfusion measurements, as already shown with 2D-perfusion-CMR and positron emission tomography, has yet to be evaluated. The purpose of this study was to establish the feasibility of quantitative 3Dperfusion-CMR to detect coronary artery disease (CAD). Additionally, as 3D-perfusion-CMR offers the opportunity to select the phase of acquisition, a secondary objective was to determine differences between systolic and diastolic estimates of myocardial blood flow (MBF).