Emerging techniques in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) now permit the acquisition of quantitative measures of myocardium and blood T1 which are fundamental tissue characteristics Fig. 1. This innovation is important, because allows the detection of focal and diffuse changes in the myocardium which are important biological properties, independent of function. The learning objective are: -To describe the emerging techniques of myocardial T1 mapping and extracellular volume fraction quantification. -To evaluate its capacity to characterize myocardial tissue. -To demonstrate its clinical relevance.

INTRODUCTION The CMR is an imaging method that permits a non invasive assessment of the heart and it has been established as the gold standard for the evaluation of cardiac anatomy and function Fig. 2, as well as for the myocardial viability1. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) technique has been the standard of reference for detecting focal myocardial fibrosis in clinical practice. LGE can visualize the myocardial infarction (MI) or the focal fibrosis in non ischaemic cardiomyopathies by using contrast agents that distribute through the extracellular...

T1 MAPPING METHODOLOGY A T1 map of the myocardium is a parametric reconstructed image, where each pixel’s intensity directly corresponds to the T1 relaxation time of the corresponding myocardial voxel. T1 mapping can be performed with high spatial resolution by using 1.5T or 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanners. Different CMR acquisition sequences have been used to obtain myocardial T1 maps: -MOLLI (Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery sequence)29 -VAST (Variable Sampling of the k-space in Time) inversion-recovery prepared 2D fast gradient echo sequence with variable sampling of...

The T1 mapping techniques and ECV imaging by CMR appear sufficiently robust methods for diagnosis of many cardiac diseases. Native T1 mapping reflects myocardial disease involving the myocyte and interstitium without use of gadolinium based contrast agents (native T1 mapping may be considered an intrinsic myocardial contrast). The ECV after gadolinium based contrast agents is a direct measurement of the size of the extracellular space, reflecting interstitial disease. This technique dichotomizes the myocardium into its cellular and interstitial components. Native T1 mapping and ECV may...

Rosario J Perea Palazon PhD MD Radiology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona. Spain; [email protected] J. T. Ortiz-Perez PhD MD Cardiology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona. Spain M. T. Cibeira PhD MD Haematology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona. Spain T. M. Caralt PhD MD Radiology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona. Spain S. Prat-Gonzalez PhD MD Cardiology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona. Spain X. Bosch Genover PhD MD Cardiology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona. Spain P. Arguis MD Radiology Department, Hospital...

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