Saturation pulse train for first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging at 7 t

Purpose: First-pass myocardial perfusion imaging is used clinically but would benefit from improved image quality. These improvements might be expected at 7T due to higher signal to noise ratio and longer T1 of the myocardium. But major implementation challenges at 7T are found owing to the large B0&B1 variations across the heart, low peak B1, and SAR restrictions that make uniform saturation extremely difficult to achieve. We propose a train of four HS8 pulses for saturation in first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging at 7T, and compare it with previously proposed solutions in simulation and in-vivo experiments. We also present the first series of human first-pass myocardial perfusion images at 7T.