title: The feasibility of 350 μm spatial resolution coronary magnetic resonance angiography at 3 T in humans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were to (1) develop a high-resolution 3-T magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) technique with an in-plane resolution approximate to that of multidetector coronary computed tomography (MDCT) and a voxel size of 0.35 × 0.35 × 1.5 mm³ and to (2) investigate the image quality of this technique in healthy participants and preliminarily in patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A 3-T coronary MRA technique optimized for an image acquisition voxel as small as 0.35 × 0.35 × 1.5 mm³ (high-resolution coronary MRA [HRC]) was implemented and the coronary arteries of 22 participants were imaged. These included 11 healthy participants (average age, 28.5 years; 5 men) and 11 participants with CAD (average age, 52.9 years; 5 women) as identified on MDCT. In addition, the 11 healthy participants were imaged using a method with a more common spatial resolution of 0.7 × 1 × 3 mm³ (regular-resolution coronary MRA [RRC]). Qualitative and quantitative comparisons were made between the 2 MRA techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Normal vessels and CAD lesions were successfully depicted at 350 × 350 μm² in-plane resolution with adequate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio. The CAD findings were consistent among MDCT and HRC. The HRC showed a 47% improvement in sharpness despite a reduction in SNR (by 72%) and in contrast-to-noise ratio (by 86%) compared with the regular-resolution coronary MRA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study, as a first step toward substantial improvement in the resolution of coronary MRA, demonstrates the feasibility of obtaining at 3 T a spatial resolution that approximates that of MDCT. The acquisition in-plane pixel dimensions are as small as 350 × 350 μm² with a 1.5-mm slice thickness. Although SNR is lower, the images have improved sharpness, resulting in image quality that allows qualitative identification of disease sites on MRA consistent with MDCT.
authors.affiliation: National Institutes of Health, NIDDK, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. agharib@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Ahmed M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gharib
authors.forename: Khaled Z
authors.initials: KZ
authors.lastname: Abd-Elmoniem
authors.forename: Vincent B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Eszter
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Födi
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Herzka
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ohayon
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stuber
authors.forename: Roderic I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Pettigrew
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult