Wideband arrhythmia‐Insensitive‐rapid (AIR) pulse sequence for cardiac T1 mapping without image artifacts induced by an implantable‐cardioverter‐defibrillator

Purpose To develop and evaluate a wideband arrhythmia‐insensitive‐rapid (AIR) pulse sequence for cardiac T 1 mapping without image artifacts induced by implantable‐cardioverter‐defibrillator (ICD). Methods We developed a wideband AIR pulse sequence by incorporating a saturation pulse with wide frequency bandwidth (8.9 kHz) to achieve uniform T 1 weighting in the heart with ICD. We tested the performance of original and “wideband” AIR cardiac T 1 mapping pulse sequences in phantom and human experiments at 1.5 Tesla. Results In five phantoms representing native myocardium and blood and postcontrast blood/tissue T 1 values, compared with the control T 1 values measured with an inversion‐recovery pulse sequence without ICD, T 1 values measured with original AIR with ICD were considerably lower (absolute percent error > 29%), whereas T 1 values measured with wideband AIR with ICD were similar (absolute percent error < 5%). Similarly, in 11 human subjects, compared with the control T 1 values measured with original AIR without ICD, T 1 measured with original AIR with ICD was significantly lower (absolute percent error > 10.1%), whereas T 1 measured with wideband AIR with ICD was similar (absolute percent error < 2.0%). Conclusion This study demonstrates the feasibility of a wideband pulse sequence for cardiac T 1 mapping without significant image artifacts induced by ICD. Magn Reson Med 74:336–345, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.