Initial experiences with in vivo right coronary artery human MR vessel wall imaging at 3 tesla.
Due to their relatively small size and central location within the thorax, improvement in signal-to-noise (SNR) is of paramount importance for in vivo coronary vessel wall imaging. Thus, with higher field strengths, coronary vessel wall imaging is likely to benefit from the expected "near linear" proportional gain in SNR. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo human high field (3 T) coronary vessel wall imaging using a free-breathing black blood fast gradient echo technique with respiratory navigator gating and real-time motion correction. With the broader availability of more SNR efficient fast spin echo and spiral techniques, further improvements can be expected.
Botnar
René M
RM
Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA. rbotnar@caregroup.harvard.edu
Stuber
Matthias
M
Lamerichs
Rolf
R
Smink
Jouke
J
Fischer
Stefan E
SE
Harvey
Paul
P
Manning
Warren J
WJ
D000328:Adult; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*