Optimizing contrast in recent myocardial infarction with MR imaging spin-echo T2-weighted sequences

Considering different possibilities of selecting sequence parameters (repetition time, echo time) with respect to tissue parameters (T1, T2) in spin-echo MR imaging, the authors develop a practical method for T1 and T2 weighting of electrocardiographically gated MR images. They apply these concepts to optimize contrast in the evaluation of recent myocardial infarction (MI) (prolonged T1 and T2) in 31 patients (22 anterior and nine inferior MI) (CGR-GR 0.5-T imager). Their clinical results show that the sensitivity is better on the third-echo images (most T2-weighted images) than on the second-echo images and there is an overall good correlation between MI size on MR images (planimetered on the third echo) and on T1-201 tomoscintigraphy (12 patients: r = .02, P < .0012, standard error of estimate = 6.5%)