Figure 8. Image analysis of T1-maps. (A) Native T1-map (ShMOLLI at 1.5 Tesla). The acquisition of this T1-map suffered from breathing motion, resulting in (B) an R² map that showed poor T1 fit (black pixels within the LV myocardium) and (C) underestimated average LV myocardial T1 values (T1=928 ms) after myocardial segmentation using epi- and endo-cardial contours (blue and magenta lines). Guided by the suboptimal R² map, the operator repeated the acquisition with the patient performing a good breath-hold, which produced (D) A good quality native T1-map, as indicated by (E) an R² map that showed good T1 fit (pixels within the LV myocardium are white), and (F) accurate average LV myocardial T1 values (T1=943 ms). Ensuring good data fit during image acquisition and analysis is paramount in the clinical application of mapping techniques.

LV = left ventricular; ShMOLLI = shortened modified Look-Locker inversion recovery.