Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany.
Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
Magn Reson Med. 2020 Jan;83(1):203-213. doi: 10.1002/mrm.27951. Epub 2019 Aug 27.
Potassium ions (K ) play a critical role in cardiac electrophysiology, and changes in their concentration reflect pathophysiological processes related to cardiovascular diseases. Here, we investigated the feasibility of in vivo K MRI of the human heart. To achieve this, we developed, evaluated, and applied a K/ H RF coil, which is tailored for K MRI of human heart at 7.0T.
The performance of the K/ H RF coil was evaluated by electromagnetic field and specific absorption ratio simulations using 2 (male/female) human voxel models. The RF coil was evaluated at the bench and applied in an in vivo proof-of-principle study involving 7 healthy volunteers. The experiments were performed using a 7.0T whole-body MR system in conjunction with a 3D density-adapted projection reconstruction imaging technique.
For in vivo K MRI of the human heart, a nominal spatial resolution of 14.5 × 14.5 × 14.5 mm within a total scan time of 30 min was achieved. The average SNR within the heart was 9.6 ± 2.4.
This work validates the design of a K/ H RF coil for cardiac MR at 7.0T and demonstrates for the first time in vivo the feasibility of K MRI of the human heart.
钾离子（K ）在心脏电生理学中起着至关重要的作用，其浓度的变化反映了与心血管疾病相关的病理生理过程。在这里，我们研究了在体人心肌 K 磁共振成像的可行性。为此，我们开发、评估并应用了一种针对 7.0T 人心肌 K 磁共振成像的 K / H RF 线圈。
使用 2 个人体体素模型（男性/女性）进行电磁场和特定吸收率模拟，评估 K / H RF 线圈的性能。在台架上评估 RF 线圈，并将其应用于涉及 7 名健康志愿者的体内原理验证研究中。实验在 7.0T 全身磁共振系统上进行，结合三维密度自适应投影重建成像技术。
对于人心肌的在体 K 磁共振成像，在 30 分钟的总扫描时间内实现了 14.5 × 14.5 × 14.5mm 的名义空间分辨率。心脏内的平均 SNR 为 9.6 ± 2.4。
这项工作验证了用于 7.0T 心脏磁共振的 K / H RF 线圈的设计，并首次在体内证明了人心肌 K 磁共振成像的可行性。
