Comparison of two single-breath-held 3-D acquisitions with multi-breath-held 2-D cine steady-state free precession MRI acquisition in children with single ventricles

Background Breath-held two-dimensional balanced steady--state free precession cine acquisition (2-D breath-held SSFP), accelerated with parallel imaging, is the method of choice for evaluating ventricular function due to its superior blood-to-myocardial contrast, edge definition and high intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio throughout the cardiac cycle.