Myocardium T1 measurement using single and multi-shot SMART1Map acquisition: pros and cons

Background The recently published method SMART1Map[1] has proposed a new true T1 measurement technique. It consists in a 2D saturation-recovery prepared balancedSSFP sequence which allows different acquisition schemes depending on the number of repetition (shot) used. Single-shot acquisition duration is short but cardiac motion blur can occur due to long acquisition window duration. Two-shot acquisition time allows an acquisition window twice smaller but inter acquisition window motion can occur. Note that single-shot scheme allows to acquire an additional point when magnetization has not yet undergo any saturation pulse, thus corresponding to an infinite saturation delay time (T∞). In this study, we compared both schemes on healthy volunteers to determine the most appropriate strategy for a large range of T1 values measurement at 3T.