title: Time-resolved flow measurement in the isolated rat heart: characterization of left coronary artery stenosis.
abstract: The investigation of flow behavior in coronary arteries is of great importance for an understanding of heart failure and heart regulation mechanisms. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate that flow velocity can be quantified in the coronary arteries of the isolated rat heart with high-resolution phase contrast MRI. A phase contrast cine-FLASH imaging sequence was used for flow quantification with an in-plane resolution of 70 microm and a slice thickness of 500 microm. With time-resolved measurements, coronary flow over the heart cycle was analyzed. Furthermore, the flow behavior in coronary stenosis was investigated and the degree of stenosis was quantified with MR phase contrast imaging. To achieve the required spatial resolution and a satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio, the experiments were performed at 11.75 T.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, EP5, Universität Würzburg, Germany. sakoehler@physik.uni-wuerzberg.de
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Hiller
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Jakob
authors.forename: Wolfgang R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haase
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar