Cardiac Phase-Resolved 3D SSFP Myocardial BOLD Imaging in Canines with Coronary Artery Stenosis

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that regional myocardial oxygenation changes due to coronary artery stenosis may be detected with 2D steady-state free precession (SSFP) blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) imaging [1]. One potential limitation of the 2D SSFP BOLD approach is the disruption of steady-state myocardial signal due to through-plane cardiac motion in the presence of slice-selective excitation [2]. A consequence of breaking the dynamic steady state of the SSFP BOLD signal is that it may lead to a reduction in myocardial oxygen sensitivity. Slab-selective excitations (3D) may be able to better preserve the steady-state features of the signal than slice-selective (2D) excitations. The purpose of this work is to investigate whether there are any observable differences in myocardial BOLD contrast between 2D and 3D approaches and to explore the utility of 3D SSFP BOLD imaging using a canine model with controllable coronary artery stenosis.