Fig. 3

Exercise imaging protocol. Rest scans consisted of breath-hold, ECG-gated Cartesian segmented cine followed by free-breathing ECG-free real-time radial cine. After rest imaging, subjects were removed from the scanner bore and were exercised in the supine position using a cycle ergometer. Work rate was started at 25 W and was increased by + 25 W every 2 min while subjects maintained a constant pedaling speed of 75 rpm. After reaching target heart rate or exhaustion, subjects were immediately placed back inside the scanner bore for post-exercise stress imaging. This consisted of a repetition of the real-time cine sequence