Figure 1

Representative adenosine stress/rest patient study. (a,b): stress myocardial perfusion study using the proposed non-ECG-gated all-systolic method (first-day visit) and the conventional ECG-gated method (second-day visit); (c,d): rest myocardial perfusion studies corresponding to each of the two methods for the same patient. Red arrows point to subendocardial dark-rim artifacts (LGE scan was negative). The stress-induced MP defects (green arrows) were closely matched between the two methods. However, the apical slice for the conventional scan was imaged at the diastolic phase; this combined with the presence of dark-rim artifacts reduces the reliability of detecting the transmural extent/severity of stress perfusion defects for the conventional method. In contrast, all of the perfusion defects for the proposed method were imaged at the end-systolic phase, enabling reliable determination of their transmural extent.