Feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of whole heart coronary MR angiography using free-breathing 3D balanced turbo-field-echo with SENSE and the half-fourier acquisition technique.
OBJECTIVE
We wanted to assess the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of whole heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) with using 3D balanced turbo-field-echo (b-TFE) with SENSE and the half-Fourier acquisition technique for identifying stenoses of the coronary artery.


METHODS
Twenty-one patients who underwent both whole heart coronary MRA examinations and conventional catheter coronary angiography examinations were enrolled in the study. The whole heart coronary MRA images were acquired using a navigator gated 3D b-TFE sequence with SENSE and the half-Fourier acquisition technique to reduce the acquisition time. The imaging slab covered the whole heart (80 contiguous slices with a reconstructed slice thickness of 1.5 mm) along the transverse axis. The quality of the images was evaluated by using a 5-point scale (0 - uninterpretable, 1 - poor, 2 - fair, 3 - good, 4 - excellent). Ten coronary segments of the heart were evaluated in each case; the left main coronary artery (LM), and the proximal, middle and distal segments of the left anterior descending (LAD), the left circumflex (LCX) and the right coronary artery (RCA). The diagnostic accuracy of whole heart coronary MRA for detecting significant coronary artery stenosis was determined on the segment-by-segment basis, and it was compared with the results obtained by conventional catheter angiography, which is the gold standard.


RESULTS
The mean image quality was 3.7 in the LM, 3.2 in the LAD, 2.5 in the LCX, and 3.3 in the RCA, respectively (the overall image quality was 3.0 +/- 0.1). 168 (84%) of the 201 segments had an acceptable image quality (> or =grade 2). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative predictive value and positive predictive value of the whole heart coronary MRA images for detecting significant stenosis were 81.3%, 92.1%, 91.1%, 97.9%, and 52.0%, respectively. The mean coronary MRA acquisition time was 9 min 22 sec (+/-125 sec).


CONCLUSIONS
Whole heart coronary MRA is a feasible technique, and it has good potential to evaluate the major portions of the coronary arteries with an acceptable image quality within a reasonable scan time.
Kim
Young Jin
YJ
Department of Radiology, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul, Korea.
Seo
Jae-Seung
JS
Choi
Byoung Wook
BW
Choe
Kyu Ok
KO
Jang
Yangsoo
Y
Ko
Young-Guk
YG
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results