Automated reacquisition for respiration insensitive scanning with MRI

Automated and immediate reacquisition of data that are corrupted by respiratory motion has been developed to improve respiration insensitive scanning in small animal MRI. Methods have been developed to maximise the efficiency with which respiratory and cardio-respiratory synchronised scans can be acquired and provide quantitative image data that exhibit a remarkably low level of motion artefact. 3D dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI is performed with a mean frame interval of 13.7 s which enables early passage of contrast agent to be detected in the major vessels, the heart and lungs, and essentially presents an angiographic blood volume image of the mouse thorax. 2D steady state maintained CINE MRI is performed with a 3.24 ms frame interval starting within 3.24 ms of the cardiac R-wave. The CINE data exhibit very homogeneous image intensities throughout the cardiac cycle without any amplitude modulations, often referred to as 'flashing', which should enable more robust quantitative analyses of cardiac function.