Multicontrast delayed enhancement provides improved contrast between myocardial infarction and blood pool

Purpose: To develop and test a delayed-enhancement imaging method for improving the contrast between myocardial infarction (MI) and blood pool. Materials and Methods: The T-2 of blood is significantly longer than that of acute or chronic MI. The proposed multi-contrast delayed-enhancement (MCODE) imaging method produces a series of images with both T, and T2 weightings, which provides both excellent contrast between normal and infarcted myocardium. and between blood and MI. Results: The subendocardial border between MI and blood pool was easily discriminated in the T-2-weighted image. The measured MI-to-blood contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was better in the T2-weighted image than in the T-1-weighted image (22.5 +/- 8.7 vs. 2.9 +/- 3.1, mean +/- SD, N = 11, P < 0.001. for TrueFISP, and 19.4 +/- 10.8 vs. 3.9 +/- 2.3, N = 11, P < 0.001. for TurboFLASH). Conclusion: The MCODE method provides a significant improvement in the ability to easily discriminate subendocardial MI by providing a T-2-weighted image with high contrast between blood and MI. MCODE should improve both the detection and accurate sizing of MI.