Coronary MR angiography at 3T during diastole and systole.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the impact of end-systolic imaging on quality of right coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) in comparison to diastolic and to study the effect of RR interval variability on image quality.


METHODS
The right coronary artery (RCA) of 10 normal volunteers was imaged at 3T using parallel imaging (sensitivity encoding [SENSE]). Navigator-gated three-dimensional (3D) gradient echo was used three times: 1) end-systolic short acquisition (SS): 35-msec window; 2) diastolic short (DS): middiastolic acquisition using 35-msec window; and 3) diastolic long (DL): 75-msec diastolic acquisition window. Vectorcardiogram (VCG) data was used to analyze RR variability. Vessel sharpness, length, and diameter were compared to each other and correlated with RR variability. Blinded qualitative image scores of the images were compared.


RESULTS
Quantitative and qualitative parameters were not significantly different and showed no significant correlation with RR variability.


CONCLUSIONS
Imaging the RCA at 3T during the end-systolic rest period using SENSE is possible without significant detrimental effect on image quality. Breaking away from the standard of imaging only during diastole can potentially improve image quality in tachycardic patients or used for simultaneous imaging during both periods in a single scan.
Gharib
Ahmed M
AM
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA. agharib@nhlbi.nih.gov
Herzka
Daniel A
DA
Ustun
Ali O
AO
Desai
Milind Y
MY
Locklin
Julia
J
Pettigrew
Roderic I
RI
Stuber
Matthias
M
D000328:Adult; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D003971:Diastole; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012119:Respiration; D013599:Systole; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors