Improved coronary MR angiography using wideband steady state free precession at 3 tesla with sub-millimeter resolution.
OBJECTIVE
To suppress off-resonance artifacts in coronary artery imaging at 3 Tesla (T), and therefore improve spatial resolution.


METHODS
Wideband steady state free precession (SSFP) sequences use an oscillating steady state to reduce banding artifacts. Coronary artery images were obtained at 3T using three-dimensional navigated gradient echo, balanced SSFP, and wideband SSFP sequences.


RESULTS
The highest in-plane resolution of left coronary artery images was 0.68 mm in the frequency-encoding direction. Wideband SSFP produced an average SNR efficiency of 70% relative to conventional balanced SSFP and suppressed off-resonance artifacts.


CONCLUSIONS
Wideband SSFP was found to be a promising approach for obtaining noncontrast, high-resolution coronary artery images at 3 Tesla with reliable image quality.
Lee
Hsu-Lei
HL
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. hsu-lei.lee@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Shankaranarayanan
Ajit
A
Pohost
Gerald M
GM
Nayak
Krishna S
KS
D000465:Algorithms; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity