A total of 26 healthy volunteers (14 women and 12 men, mean age: 26±3 years) without a history of cardiovascular disease and without cardiac risk factors were examined for this single center study on three different, but structurally identical 1.5 T MR systems from the same vendor. All scanners were equipped with an identical software package for T2 mapping with automated in-line motion correction. Three long and three short axis views were acquired for inter-scanner comparison at identical slice positions.

A region of interest (ROI) as large as possible carefully avoiding the adjacent blood pool or extracardiac structures was manually placed in each of the 16 myocardial segments according to the AHA model both in three short and three long axis.

Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variances.