Late Gadolinium Enhancemnet imaging of the Left Ventricle in a single breath-hold using multi-slice spiral PSIR imaging at 3T

Background Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging is the standard method of assessment of myocardial viability. Conventional Cartesian phase sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) LGE imaging is usually performed as a stack of 2D slices, with each slice being acquired in a single breath-hold [1]. Repeated breath-holding is time consuming and can be difficult or tiring for patients which can lead to mis-registration between slices. Spiral imaging provides highly efficient k-space coverage, allowing for improvements in acquired resolutions or reductions in acquisition durations. We have developed a spiral PSIR LGE sequence with non-Cartesian SENSE to acquire a full stack of 2D slices through the left ventricle within a single breath-hold whilst maintaining spatial resolution.