Coronary artery anomalies and variants: technical feasibility of assessment with coronary MR angiography at 3 T.
The purpose of this study was to prospectively use a whole-heart three-dimensional (3D) coronary magnetic resonance (MR) angiography technique specifically adapted for use at 3 T and a parallel imaging technique (sensitivity encoding) to evaluate coronary arterial anomalies and variants (CAAV). This HIPAA-compliant study was approved by the local institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Twenty-two participants (11 men, 11 women; age range, 18-62 years) were included. Ten participants were healthy volunteers, whereas 12 participants were patients suspected of having CAAV. Coronary MR angiography was performed with a 3-T MR imager. A 3D free-breathing navigator-gated and vector electrocardiographically-gated segmented k-space gradient-echo sequence with adiabatic T2 preparation pulse and parallel imaging (sensitivity encoding) was used. Whole-heart acquisitions (repetition time msec/echo time msec, 4/1.35; 20 degrees flip angle; 1 x 1 x 2-mm acquired voxel size) lasted 10-12 minutes. Mean examination time was 41 minutes +/- 14 (standard deviation). Findings included aneurysms, ectasia, arteriovenous fistulas, and anomalous origins. The 3D whole-heart acquisitions developed for use with 3 T are feasible for use in the assessment of CAAV.
Gharib
Ahmed M
AM
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. agharib@nhlbi.nih.gov
Ho
Vincent B
VB
Rosing
Douglas R
DR
Herzka
Daniel A
DA
Stuber
Matthias
M
Arai
Andrew E
AE
Pettigrew
Roderic I
RI
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged