IMPROVED EJECTION FRACTION AND FLOW VELOCITY ESTIMATES WITH USE OF VIEW SHARING AND UNIFORM REPETITION TIME EXCITATION WITH FAST CARDIAC TECHNIQUES

PURPOSE: To improve the accuracy of ventricular volume estimates and e ffective temporal resolution in fast cardiac acquisitions. MATERIALS A ND METHODS: Data sets at intermediate temporal phases were generated b y means of sharing of views from two temporally adjacent data sets. A simulated model was used, and studies with patients and volunteers wer e conducted. View sharing was implemented in both fast gradient-echo a nd fast phase-contrast cine acquisitions; breath holding was used when possible. RESULTS: Uniform repetition time (TR) radio-frequency (RF) excitation allowed a better assessment of the end-diastolic ventricula r volume. In addition, view sharing provided a better estimate of end- systolic ventricular volume in cases in which rapid changes in volume occurred at or about the temporal boundary of the source images. View sharing also provided a much smoother representation of dynamic cardia c motion when viewed in a cine loop. CONCLUSION: View sharing and unif orm TR RF excitation improve the accuracy of end-systolic and end-dias tolic ventricular volume measurements by improving the effective tempo ral resolution.