MR-guided percutaneous intramyocardial injection with an MR-compatible catheter: feasibility and changes in T1 values after injection of extracellular contrast medium in pigs.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of percutaneous magnetic resonance (MR)-guided intramyocardial injection of gadodiamide by using real-time imaging and to quantify T1 values and the size of the enhanced region for different concentrations of contrast agent for 30 minutes after injection.

Materials And Methods: Animal care committee approval was obtained. A catheter with a needle tip was advanced into the left ventricle in seven pigs by using real-time imaging with radial steady-state free precession. After intramyocardial injection of 2 mL of solution at concentrations of 0.05 or 0.10 mmol/mL gadodiamide, local changes in T1 values and size of the contrast material-enhanced region were sequentially measured at 3, 15, and 30 minutes after injection by using the Look-Locker sequence. Two-tailed paired Student t tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results: Catheter guidance and visualization of contrast agent distribution were feasible in all animals. Regional changes in T1 values were significantly different for different contrast agent concentrations (for 0.05 mmol/mL, 456 msec +/- 5 [+/- standard error of the mean]; for 0.10 mmol/mL, 228 msec +/- 4; P < .001) measured 3 minutes after injection. T1 values increased significantly (P < .05) to 720 msec +/- 7 for 0.05 mmol/mL gadodiamide and 445 msec +/- 6 for 0.10 mmol/mL gadodiamide 30 minutes after injection but remained significantly lower than those of remote myocardium (879 msec +/- 8). The size of the contrast-enhanced region increased from 13 mm(2) +/- 2 at 3 minutes to 30 mm(2) +/- 3 at 30 minutes (P < .05).

Conclusion: Catheter MR-guided percutaneous intramyocardial injection is feasible; after intramyocardial injection of gadodiamide at concentrations of 0.05 and 0.10 mmol/mL, T1 values decreased over the observation time.