Fig. 5

Box-plot analyses of normalized intensity (NI) variation over a cardiac cycle. a: Signal intensity variation (SIV) of myocardium was similar between breath-hold (BH) and respiratory-triggered (RT) techniques in study participants (p = nonsignificant [NS]), but SIV of myocardium and liver was significantly higher for the CT technique than for either the BH or RT technique (p < 0.001); b: Percentage of cardiac cycle (PCC) of myocardium was similar between BH and RT techniques (p = NS), but the PCC of myocardium and liver was significantly lower for the cardiac triggered technique than for either the BH or RT technique (p < 0.001); c: The blood-to-myocardial contrast (BMC) of the BH and RT techniques were similar (p = NS), but the BMC of the cardiac triggered technique was lower than that of either the BH or RT technique (p < 0.001). Although the liver and myocardium have similar tissue relaxation parameters, SIV and PCC were significantly different (p < 0.001) between the two tissues for both BH and RT because of through-plane motion of the myocardium. Non-overlapping notches indicate that the medians of the two groups differ at the 5% significance level. Outliers beyond 1.5 times the interquartile distance are indicated with five-point stars in red. P-values derived from paired t-test are labeled next to box plots where non-overlapping notches are unclear