Myocardial delayed enhancement imaging: comparison of two-dimensional and three-dimensional inversion prepared fast gradient echo and steady state free precession sequences.

We compared two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) inversion recovery prepared (IR) fast gradient echo (FGRE) and steady state free precession (SSFP) sequences used in myocardial delayed enhancement imaging. Twenty patients with a prior history of acute coronary syndrome were included in this study. Breath hold, ECG gated, segmented 2D and 3D IR_FGRE and SSFP sequences were acquired after intravenous administration of 0.15 mmol/kg gadodiamide-DTPA. Overall image quality, transmural extent of myocardial infarction, infarct volume, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal intensity ratio (SIR) were calculated and compared for each technique. 3D IR trueFISP showed significantly higher mean values of SNR and CNR compared with 3D IR turboFLASH, 2D IR turboFLASH and 2D IR trueFISP (p < 0.04 and p < 0.001). 3D IR_FGRE showed the second highest SNR and CNR. 3D IR_SSFP and 3D IR_FGRE allowed the imaging of the whole heart within a single breath-hold which reduced the imaging time significantly compared to 2D IR_FGRE and 2D IR_SSFP. 3D IR_SSFP and 3D IR_FGRE offer higher SNR, CNR and rapid acquisiton compared to 2D IR_SSFP and 2D IR_FGRE with adequate image quality.