Comparing the accuracy and precision of SMART1Map, SASHA and MOLLI

Background Currently, MOLLI [1] is the most common method for measuring myocardial T1. Because MOLLI uses an SSFP-based Look-Locker approach, only the apparent T1 (T1*) can be measured, and there are concerns about the accuracy of the T1* values due to the dependence on imaging parameters. Alternatives to LookLocker imaging are single-point methods such as SASHA[2] and SMART1Map[3]. Although single-point methods are historically well-established and measure true T1, there remain differences between SASHA and SMART1Map that may affect their performance. Although both use single-point saturation recovery to acquire data at multiple saturation delay times (TS), the distribution of delay times is very different (Figure 1). The purpose of this work was to examine the accuracy and precision of MOLLI, SASHA, and SMART1Map in a phantom study.