Compression belt for navigator-triggered trueFISP whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography: study in healthy volunteers.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate in healthy volunteers the usefulness of an abdominal compression belt in reducing acquisition time by stabilizing respiratory motion during whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography (WHCMRA) using conventional navigator triggering.


METHODS
In 10 healthy volunteers, we performed free-breathing 3-dimensional segmented true fast imaging with steady-state precession (trueFISP) WHCMRA using conventional navigator triggering without motion-adapted gating. We acquired images with the abdominal compression belt rolled tightly around the upper abdomen and without the belt. We compared image acquisition time, navigator efficiency, and visible length of coronary arteries using paired t-test and subjective image quality on a 4-point scale (1, poor; 4, excellent) using Wilcoxon signed-rank test.


RESULTS
There were no statistically significant differences for mean acquisition time (11.5+/-5.0 vs. 9.3+/-2.4 min, P=0.150); navigator efficiency (38.7+/-13.6 vs. 42.8+/-11.0%, P=0.336); mean overall visible length of the coronary arteries (99.7+/-22.7 vs. 105.0+/-16.5 mm, P=0.530); or mean overall subjective image quality (2.5 vs. 2.7, P=0.297) between results obtained with and without the abdominal compression belt.


CONCLUSIONS
In this small group of healthy volunteers, the use of an abdominal compression belt did not reduce image acquisition time or improve image quality in trueFISP WHCMRA using conventional navigator triggering; however, the technique's feasibility requires additional consideration using other navigator-triggering methods for patients with irregular respiratory cycles.
Morita
Satoru
S
Department of Radiology, Tokyo Women's Medical University Medical Center East, Tokyo, Japan. i@imodey.com
Suzuki
Kazufumi
K
Machida
Haruhiko
H
Fujimura
Mikihiko
M
Ohnishi
Takahiro
T
Imura
Chiaki
C
Ueno
Eiko
E
D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012149:Restraint, Physical / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D053828:Stockings, Compression