title: Projection imaging of the right coronary artery with an intravenous injection of contrast agent.
abstract: Contrast-enhanced (CE) MR angiography of the right coronary artery (RCA) was performed using 2D thick-slice projection imaging with a small (8 mL) intravenous injection of contrast agent in six volunteers. With a tight contrast bolus injection, the RCA was enhanced for a few seconds after the contrast bolus was washed out of the right ventricle. This allowed data to be acquired when only the RCA was enhanced. Using 2D thick-slice magnetization prepared steady-state free precession (SSFP) imaging, background signal was suppressed and a complete data set was acquired in three heartbeats. A mean vessel length of 7.1 +/- 0.9 cm was depicted with a signal-to-noise ratio of 11.8 +/- 0.7 and contrast-to-noise ratio of 6.1 +/- 0.6. Thick-slice 2D projection CE SSFP is a promising method to depict the RCA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Jordin D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Schirf
authors.forename: Reed A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Omary
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Debiao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA