Adaptive Heart Rate Prediction for Black-Blood Systolic Imaging

International audience; Cardiac MRI is still challenging due to the perpetual heart motion. In order to avoid cardiac motion artifacts, acquisitions are synchronized with heart activity, generally by triggering on R-waves of the Electrocardiogram (ECG). Double Inversion Recovery Fast Spin Echo (DIR-FSE) sequences, resulting in black-blood images, require furthermore specific timing. For such acquisitions, inversion time (TI) is needed to cancel blood signals (~500ms) [1], making acquisitions in the first 500ms of the cardiac cycle impossible. Black-blood imaging allows then only diastolic view of the heart. Moreover heart rate (HR) variability has been shown to be important during breath-holds [2] making cardiac synchronization even more complicated. In this paper, a RR interval prediction method has been implemented, which permits to launch DIR pulses before R waves and thus enables black blood systolic imaging.