Imaging Sequence Type:
- Double Inversion Recovery Fast Spin Echo (GE /Toshiba), Turbo Spin Echo (Philps / Siemens)
- A single image is typically acquired while the patient holds their breath for several heartbeats
Acquisition Mode: Single slice, single phase. One image per breath hold.
Image Contrast:
- Black blood
- Does not require intravenous gadolinium contrast
- Proton Density Weighted (when TR is set to 2 RR intervals)
- Poor T1-weighting (when TR is set to 1 RR interval)
- T2 weighted when TE is long (e.g. >80 ms)
Imaging Options:
- Fat suppression using an additional inversion pulse (also know as “Triple Inversion Recovery”)
- Alternatively, fat suppression can be performed using fat saturation
Clinical Utility:
- Good for anatomic delineation (e.g. pericardial thickness without effusion, neoplasm extent, etc.)
- Good contrast between fat, muscle, blood.
- Can be helpful for tissue characterization (e.g. neoplasm, myocardial edema).
- Not good for assessing for gadolinium enhancement (poor T1-weighting).
- Blood suppression does not work well when blood flow is slow or in-plane (not good for long axis imaging, or in patients with impaired systolic function).
- Not good for wall thickness measurements (image acquisition is usually at mid-diastole, not end-diastole).
- Inefficient. Usually only one image is acquired per breathhold.
- Provides no functional information: cannot assess myocardial function or flow jets.
