Cyclic CINE-balanced steady-state free precession image intensity variations: implications for the detection of myocardial edema.

Purpose: To evaluate the dependence of CINE-balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) image intensities on spatial location, cardiac phase, and disease state.

Materials And Methods: Eight subjects with recent myocardial infarctions and eight age- and sex-matched normal volunteers were studied using CINE-bSSFP imaging to describe cyclic image intensity variations as a function of the cardiac cycle and to optimize and assess the ability of CINE-bSSFP imaging to depict myocardial edema. Signal intensities of the left ventricular (LV) bloodpool and myocardium were measured using region-of-interest analysis across the cardiac cycle.