Figure 2

Myocardial blood flow heterogeneity in a healthy volunteer. (A) Segmental myocardial timesignal intensity curves with no surface coil intensity correction, and the corresponding myocardial blood flow (MBF) pixel map (B). Considerable segmental variation is seen in the time-signal intensity curves which corresponds to marked heterogeneity in MBF, with MBF seen to be much higher in the anteroseptum compared to the inferolateral wall. (C) Mean measured segmental MBF (mL/min/kg) without surface coil intensity correction in healthy volunteers, demonstrating considerable regional variation, with MBF seen to be higher in the anterior and anteroseptal segments compared to the inferior and inferolateral segments (star represents anterior RV septal insertion point). In the same subject, after proton density (D and E) and saturation prepared SSFP (G and H) surface coil intensity correction, segmental time-signal intensity curves and MBF are much more homogenous. Mean segmental MBF is also considerably more homogenous after proton density (F) and saturation prepared SSFP (I) surface coil intensity correction. (Segmental rather than pixel-wise time-signal intensity curves are shown for ease of visual interpretation). Sec1 = anterior, Sec2 = anterolateral, Sec3=inferolateral, Sec4= inferior, Sec5 = inferoseptum, Sec6 = anteroseptum.