Figure 3. Detecting chronic myocardial infarction at 3T.

Representative LGE images and T₁ maps of basal, mid-ventricular and apical slices acquired at 4 months post MI from a canine scanned at 3T are shown. Infarcted myocardium (highlighted dark blue pixels in the processed images) was identified on both LGE images and T₁ as in Figure 1. Hypointense core of chronic iron deposition within the hyperintense infarcted myocardium was not detected as infarcted myocardium by the mean+5SD criterion, and was manually included in the final analysis (highlighted light blue pixels in the processed images). Bulls-eye plots depicting the extent and transmurality of the infarcted myocardium are also shown for both LGE images and T₁ maps. Excellent correlations were observed between LGE images and T₁ maps in terms of the location, spatial extent and transmurality of the infarcted myocardium. Magnified views (on the right) of the infarcted myocardium detected on the mid-ventricular and apical slices clearly show the concordance between LGE images and T₁ maps.