Initial experiences with in vivo intravascular coronary vessel wall imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate potential use of a loopless internal receiver coil for in vivo coronary artery vessel wall imaging in five domestic swine.


METHODS
Intravascular free-breathing black blood coronary vessel wall imaging was performed using a previously described double inversion fast spin echo technique after x-ray guided placement of an internal receiver coil in or in close proximity to the target vessel (LAD, LCX).


RESULTS
Image quality using the phased array coil was reproducible, while image quality with the internal receiver coil was heavily dependent on coil position with respect to the examined artery, and likely also dependent on blood flow and/or cardiac-related coil motion. With internal coil placement in the left circumflex coronary artery, images of the left anterior descending vessel wall appeared similar or superior compared to commercially available phased array surface coil images. With coil placement in the target vessel itself, imaging was suboptimal because of the extremely high signal intensity (hotspot) in close proximity to the vessel wall, leading to low contrast between the vessel wall and the surrounding tissues and blood.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo intravascular coronary vessel wall imaging. Continued research is necessary to minimize coil motion and optimize coil sensitivity algorithms.
Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. rbotnar@caregroup.harvard.edu
René M
RM
Botnar
Arno
A
Bücker
W Yong
WY
Kim
Ingmar
I
Viohl
Rolf W
RW
Günther
Elmar
E
Spuentrup
D000818:Animals; D003287:Contrast Media; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013552:Swine
D003287:Contrast Media