Optimizing conventional cardiac MRI in the rabbit at 0.3 T.

The aim of this study was to define the most efficient way of performing cardiac MRI for anatomic information in small experimental animals, using a vertical magnetic field with a strength of 0.3 T (FONAR beta-3000M). This information may be used to improve cardiac MRI in infants and small children, since the size of a rabbit is considered comparable to that of a neonate. Experimental axial cardiac MRI studies were performed in a rabbit under general anesthesia in order to study the effects on image quality of changing various imaging parameters. These are ECG-gating, number of excitations (averages), number of warp levels, echo time (TE) and repetition time (TR). The effects of changing the size of the field of view (FOV), the slice thickness and the phase-encoding direction were also studied. We found that ECG-gating was crucial and that three excitations, TE 16 ms, and 257 vertical phase-encoding warp levels were adequate. Five-millimeter slice thickness and FOV 20 cm were preferred.