Figure 14

SENC. (a) SENC idea. SENC applies tagging as in conventional SPAMM. However, the tag planes are applied parallel to and inside the imaging slice, thus through-plane strain is recorded. (b) SENC pulse sequence. The tagging part is similar to that in conventional SENC, except that the modulating gradient is applied in the through-plane (z-) direction. During the imaging stage, a tuning gradient is applied in the z-direction after slice selection and before data acquisition. By acquiring two images with different tunings, strain information can be decoded. (c) Example of strain images. Low-tuning (LT) image shows non-contracting tissues; high-tuning (HT) image shows contracting myocardium. The LT and HT images are combined to show color-coded strain map. Note that this four-chamber slice shows circumferential strain, and note the big non-contacting apical region.