Non-enhanced Multi-contrast 3D Whole-heart MRI for Assessment of Reperfusion Injury in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

Bright- and black-blood MRI sequences provide multi-contrast information for myocardial assessment in patients with acute ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). A free-breathing 3D whole-heart bright-blood and black-blood phase sensitive (BOOST) inversion recovery sequence has been recently proposed for a simultaneous multi-contrast high-quality depiction of cardiac and vascular structures without contrast agent injection. In this study, we applied this sequence to visualize reperfusion injury in 10 patients with STEMI. Good agreement in microvascular obstruction (MVO) and intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH) visualization was observed between the proposed approach and traditional 2D imaging methods in patients, promising potential integration into clinical treatment workflow.