title: ECG and navigator-free four-dimensional whole-heart coronary MRA for simultaneous visualization of cardiac anatomy and function.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a cardiac and respiratory self-gated four-dimensional (4D) coronary MRA technique for simultaneous cardiac anatomy and function visualization.
  
  
  METHODS
  A contrast-enhanced, ungated spoiled gradient echo sequence with self-gating (SG) and 3DPR trajectory was used for image acquisition. Data were retrospectively binned into different cardiac and respiratory phases based on information extracted from SG projections using principal component analysis. Each cardiac phase was reconstructed using a respiratory motion-corrected self-calibrating SENSE framework, and those belong to the quiescent period were retrospectively combined for coronary visualization. Healthy volunteer studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the SG method, the accuracy of the left ventricle (LV) function parameters and the quality of coronary artery visualization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SG performed reliably for all subjects including one with poor electrocardiogram (ECG). The LV function parameters showed excellent agreement with those from a conventional cine protocol. For coronary imaging, the proposed method yielded comparable apparent signal to noise ratio and coronary sharpness and lower apparent contrast to noise ratio on three subjects compared with an ECG and navigator-gated Cartesian protocol and an ECG-gated, respiratory motion-corrected 3DPR protocol.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A fully self-gated 4D whole-heart imaging technique was developed, potentially allowing cardiac anatomy and function assessment from a single measurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Jianing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.forename: Zhaoyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arsanjani
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.forename: Debiao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055424:Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques; D003287:Contrast Media; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D055425:Respiratory-Gated Imaging Techniques; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: 3D radial acquisition; cine imaging; coronary MRA; self-gating