Purpose: To develop navigator-gated free-breathing 3D
spiral late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging of the
left ventricle at 3T and compare it with conventional
breath-hold 2D Cartesian imaging.
Materials and Methods: Equivalent slices from 3D spiral
and multislice 2D Cartesian acquisitions were compared
in 15 subjects in terms of image quality (1,
nondiagnostic to 5, excellent), sharpness (1–3), and presence
of artifacts (0–2). Blood signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),
blood/myocardium contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and
quantitative sharpness were also compared.
Results: All 3D spiral scans were completed faster than
an equivalent 2D Cartesian short-axis stack (85 vs. 230 sec,
P < 0.001). Image quality was significantly higher for 2D
Cartesian images than 3D spiral images (3.7 6 0.87 vs.
3.4 6 1.05, P ¼ 0.03) but not for mid or apical slices specifi-
cally. There were no significant differences in qualitative
and quantitative sharpness (95% confidence interval [CI]:
1.91 6 0.67 vs. 1.93 6 0.69, P ¼ 0.83 and 95% CI:
0.41 6 0.07 vs. 0.40 6 0.09, P ¼ 0.25, respectively), artifact
scores (95% CI: 0.16 6 0.37 vs. 0.40 6 0.58, P ¼ 0.16), SNR
(95% CI: 121.5 6 55.3 vs. 136.4 6 77.9, P ¼ 0.13), and CNR
(95% CI: 101.6 6 48.4 vs. 102.7 6 61.8, P ¼ 0.98). Similar
enhancement ratios (0.65 vs. 0.62) and volumes (13.8 vs.
14.1cm3
) were measured from scar regions of three patients.
Conclusio: Navigator-gated 3D spiral LGE imaging can
be performed in significantly and substantially shorter
acquisition durations, although with some reduced image
quality, than multiple breath-hold 2D Cartesian imaging
while providing higher resolution and contiguous coverage.