Characterization of the ultra-short echo time magnetic resonance (UTE MR) collagen signal associated with myocardial fibrosis

Background The homogeneous distribution of collagen in diffuse myocardial fibrosis renders the disease unsuitable for imaging using late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) [1]. More recently, the estimation of extracellular volume from T1 maps involving gadolinium agents has shown promise; however, these methods are not specific to collagen and are governed by gadolinium kinetics [2]. The diagnosis of diffuse myocardial fibrosis would benefit from an imaging method that can directly detect collagen. Notably, ultra-short echo time magnetic resonance (UTE MR) is a technique that can be used to detect short T2* species, including collagen [3]. Our objective is to characterize the UTE signal of protons in the collagen molecule, including their T2* and chemical shift. Direct isolation of a collagen signal could aid in the diagnosis of myocardial fibrosis, especially for diffuse distributions, and the assessment of disease extent.