Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart generally requires breath holding and a regular rhythm. Single shot 2D steady-state free precession (SS_SSFP) is a fast sequence insensitive to arrhythmia as well as breath holding. Our purpose was to determine image quality, signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise (CNR) ratios and infarct size with a fast single shot and a standard segmented MRI sequence in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation and chronic myocardial infarction.

Methods: Twenty patients with chronic myocardial infarction and ongoing atrial fibrillation were examined with inversion recovery SS_SSFP and segmented inversion recovery 2D fast gradient echo (IR_FGRE). Image quality was assessed in four categories: delineation of infarcted and non-infarcted myocardium, occurrence of artefacts and overall image quality. SNR and CNR were calculated. Myocardial volume (ml) and infarct size, expressed as volume (ml) and extent (%), were calculated, and the methodological error was assessed.

Results: SS_SSFP had significantly better quality scores in all categories (P = 0·037, P = 0·014, P = 0·021, P = 0·03). SNR_infarct and SNR_blood were significantly better for IR_FGRE than for SS_SSFP (P = 0·048, P = 0·018). No significant difference was found in SNRmyocardium and CNR. The myocardial volume was significantly larger with SS_SSFP (170·7 versus 159·2 ml, P<0·001), but no significant difference was found in infarct volume and infarct extent.

Conclusion: SS_SSFP displayed significantly better image quality than IR_FGRE. The infarct size and the error in its determination were equal for both sequences, and the examination time was shorter with SS_SSFP.