title: Coronary artery magnetic resonance angiography (MRA): a comparison between the whole-heart and volume-targeted methods using a T2-prepared SSFP sequence.
abstract: In this study, coronary MRA was performed on 10 healthy volunteers using the whole-heart and volume-targeted scans with comparable imaging parameters. Similar results in the SNR, CNR, and vessel diameter were observed. The depicted length of coronary arteries was longer using the whole-heart scan (whole-heart: RCA/LAD = 13.4 +/- 3.9/10.5 +/- 1.6 cm; volume-targeted: RCA/LAD = 11.0 +/- 2.6/8.7 +/- 1.8 cm). Imaging times for the RCA- (3.8 +/- 1.4 minutes) and LAD-targeted (3.6 +/- 1.3 minutes) are similar, while the time required for one whole-heart scan is significantly longer (12.2 +/- 4.0 minutes). The measured vessel sharpness was higher using the volume-targeted method (whole-heart: RCA/LAD = 0.65 +/- 0.18/0.78 +/- 0.16; volume-targeted: RCA/LAD = 0.84 +/- 0.22/0.90 +/- 0.20). Combination of the whole-heart and volume-targeted methods could be potentially useful in clinical applications of coronary MRA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Vibhas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Debiao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000145:classification; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted