Fig. 2

Myocardial oxygenation response throughout the breath-hold. Left panel, top row (a): In healthy subjects, myocardial oxygenation increases rapidly at the beginning of the breath-hold and is maintained throughout apnea, as shown in a healthy male as well as by the mean response of all healthy subjects (right panel, grey shaded graph). Left panel, middle row (b): OS images show a regional response (square) in a coronary artery disease (CAD) patient, whose myocardial oxygenation decreased in territory subtended to left anterior descending (LAD) stenosis (marked with a solid lined box) and in territory reperfused via a stented right coronary artery (RCA) (marked with dotted line), while the remote territory responded with an oxygenation increase (left circumflex (LCx); also note artifact rejection in a small infero-lateral region). Left panel, bottom row (c): This sequence represents a CAD patient (stented LAD, RCA stenosis) with global dysfunction in whom all territories revealed an oxygenation deficit (purple dots).