Schematic overview of investigated free-breathing nonrigid
motion-corrected three-dimensional (3D) whole-heart MTC-BOOST framework.
Top: Two magnetization-prepared bright‐blood volumes are acquired
in odd (A) and even (B) heartbeats.
Magnetization transfer in combination with an inversion pulse is used in
odd heartbeats, whereas magnetization transfer alone is exploited in
even heartbeats. In odd heartbeats, a short inversion time
inversion-recovery approach is used to suppress the signal from
epicardial fat, whereas frequency‐selective presaturation is used
in even heartbeats. Data acquisition is performed using a 3D Cartesian
trajectory with spiral profile order. A low‐resolution
two-dimensional (2D) iNAV is acquired in each heartbeat by spatially
encoding the ramp‐up pulses of the bSSFP sequences. The iNAVs are
used to estimate foot-head and right-left rigid motion by tracking a
template around the aortic arch, providing motion estimates in a
beat-to-beat basis. Middle: Foot-head motion is used to sort the 3D
MTC-BOOST data into five equally populated bins, and 3D MR images
reconstructed at each respiratory position are used to estimate nonrigid
motion between bins. 2D translational beat-to-beat and 3D nonrigid
bin-to-bin motion is then integrated into an in-line motion-compensated
iterative sensitivity encoding reconstruction to produce the final
images. Bottom: The bright‐blood MTC‐IR BOOST and
MTC-BOOST volumes are corrected for translation and nonrigid motion and
are subsequently combined in a PSIR‐like reconstruction to
generate a complementary black‐blood volume. bSSFP = balanced
steady-state free precession, ECG = electrocardiography, Fat sat = fat
suppression, iNAV = image-based navigator, kx = readout, ky = phase
encoding, kz = MRI signal along the scanner bore, MTC-BOOST =
Magnetization Transfer Contrast Bright-and-black blOOd phase SensiTive,
IR = inversion-recovery pulse, PSIR = phase-sensitive inversion
recovery, TI = inversion time, 3D WH = 3D whole-heart.