Look-Locker sequence - Cardiac MRI

Look-Locker sequence for optimizing the inversion time (Ti) in a DE-MRI sequence. The optimal nulling time, where the myocardium has the least signal intensity (i.e., black), is seen in the third picture (from left) in the second row where the Ti is noted as 305 ms. The blood pool is nulled earlier in time, on the first image frame (top left), when the Ti time is 160 ms. On later images, the signal intensity of both the blood pool and myocardium increase and there is loss of contrast between the 2 tissues.