title: Toward comparability of coronary magnetic resonance angiography: proposal for a standardized quantitative assessment.
abstract: A method is proposed for the quantitative assessment of coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) acquisitions. The method is based on four parameters: signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR); vessel length; and vessel-edge definition. A pig model (n=7) was used to illustrate the proposed quantitative analysis method. Three-dimensional gradient-echo coronary MRA was performed with and without exogenous contrast enhancement using a gadolinium-based blood-pool contrast agent (Vistarem, Guerbet, Aulnay-Sous-Bois, France). The acquired images could be well differentiated based on the four parameters. The SNR was calculated as 9.0+/-1.4 vs 10.4+/-2.1, the CNR as 6.2+/-0.8 vs 8.2+/-0.9, the vessel length as 48.2+/-11.6 vs 86.5+/-13.8 mm, and the vessel-edge definition as 4.9+/-1.5 vs 7.7+/-3.4. Different coronary MRA techniques can be evaluated objectively with the combined use of SNR, CNR, vessel length, and vessel-edge parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, C2-S, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands. M.S.Dirksen@lumc.nl
authors.forename: Martijn S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Dirksen
authors.forename: Hildo J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lamb
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van der Geest
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Roos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D023421:Models, Animal; D011336:Probability; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D034421:Sus scrofa