Human coronary arteries: projection angiograms reconstructed from breath-hold two-dimensional MR images.
The authors sought to render projection magnetic resonance (MR) angiograms depicting a substantial length of human coronary arteries from sequential breath-hold two-dimensional MR images. Tomographic images of the right and left anterior descending coronary arteries were collected with use of a segmented gradient-recalled sequence that incorporated fat suppression and prone positioning of the patient over a surface coil. After editing the images to eliminate overlapping chamber signals and after realigning the images, a maximum-intensity-projection algorithm was applied to create projection angiograms. For the 10 coronary arteries without severe narrowing, visualized length with projection MR angiography was 109 mm +/- 29 (mean +/- standard error of estimate) versus 121 mm +/- 29 with conventional coronary angiography (ranges, 62-147 mm and 70-180 mm, respectively). At conventional angiography linear regression indicated vessel length to be 1.03 times the length depicted at MR angiography with good correlation (r = .8). Results indicate good correlation between measurements of vessel length with both conventional and MR angiography.
Department of Radiology, Charles A. Dana Research Institute, Boston, Mass 02215.
R R
RR
Edelman
W J
WJ
Manning
J
J
Pearlman
W
W
Li
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001158:Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged