MRI of Coronary Vessel Walls Using Radial k-Space Sampling and Steady-State Free Precession Imaging
Marcus Katoh1,
Elmar Spuentrup1,
Arno Buecker1,
Tobias Schaeffter2,
Matthias Stuber3,
Rolf W. Günther1 and
Rene M. Botnar4
1 Department of Diagnostic Radiology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital,
Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52057 Aachen, Germany.
2 Philips Research Laboratories, Hamburg, Germany.
3 Department of Radiology, Division of MRI Research, Johns Hopkins University
Medical School, Baltimore, MD.
4 Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

View larger version (18K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 1 Diagram of free-breathing navigator-gated 3D black blood sequences
using cartesian and radial gradient-echo or radial steady-state free
precession (SSFP) imaging. Black blood properties are maintained using double
inversion prepulse consisting of nonselective and selective inversion pulses.
Real-time navigator precedes five preparatory pulses, which are used to
approach steady-state conditions. Epicardial fat saturation is achieved using
spectral inversion (SPIR) pulse. Imaging was performed during mid-diastole,
which is quiescent period in cardiac cycle.
|
|

View larger version (171K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2A Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Radial steady-state free precession (SSFP) image of
31-year-old healthy man shows right coronary artery.
|
|

View larger version (173K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2B Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Scans corresponding to A that were acquired using
cartesian gradient-echo (GRE) (B), radial GRE (C), or radial
SSFP (D) sequences show coronary vessel walls (arrowheads).
Note pronounced motion artifacts (arrows, B) in phase-encoding
direction originating from cardiac motion in cartesian GRE images.
|
|

View larger version (166K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2C Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Scans corresponding to A that were acquired using
cartesian gradient-echo (GRE) (B), radial GRE (C), or radial
SSFP (D) sequences show coronary vessel walls (arrowheads).
Note pronounced motion artifacts (arrows, B) in phase-encoding
direction originating from cardiac motion in cartesian GRE images.
|
|

View larger version (149K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2D Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Scans corresponding to A that were acquired using
cartesian gradient-echo (GRE) (B), radial GRE (C), or radial
SSFP (D) sequences show coronary vessel walls (arrowheads).
Note pronounced motion artifacts (arrows, B) in phase-encoding
direction originating from cardiac motion in cartesian GRE images.
|
|

View larger version (173K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2E Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Radial SSFP image of 38-year-old healthy woman shows right
coronary artery.
|
|

View larger version (164K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2F Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Scans corresponding to E that were acquired using
cartesian GRE (B), radial GRE (C), or radial SSFP (D)
sequences show coronary vessel walls (arrowheads). Note pronounced
motion artifacts (arrows, F) in phase-encoding direction
originating from cardiac motion in cartesian GRE images.
|
|

View larger version (170K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2G Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Scans corresponding to E that were acquired using
cartesian GRE (B), radial GRE (C), or radial SSFP (D)
sequences show coronary vessel walls (arrowheads). Note pronounced
motion artifacts (arrows, F) in phase-encoding direction
originating from cardiac motion in cartesian GRE images.
|
|

View larger version (173K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2H Bright blood MR angiography shows right coronary artery of two
healthy volunteers. Scans corresponding to E that were acquired using
cartesian GRE (B), radial GRE (C), or radial SSFP (D)
sequences show coronary vessel walls (arrowheads). Note pronounced
motion artifacts (arrows, F) in phase-encoding direction
originating from cardiac motion in cartesian GRE images.
|
|

View larger version (14K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 3A Analysis of objective image quality parameters for cartesian
gradient-echo (cartGRE, gray bars), radial gradient-echo (radGRE,
black bars), and radial steady-state free precession (radSSFP,
white bars) sequences. Bar graph shows signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). vw = vessel wall.
|
|

View larger version (13K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 3B Analysis of objective image quality parameters for cartesian
gradient-echo (cartGRE, gray bars), radial gradient-echo (radGRE,
black bars), and radial steady-state free precession (radSSFP,
white bars) sequences. Bar graph shows vessel length and
sharpness.
|
|

CiteULike
Complore
Connotea
Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Technorati What's this?
Copyright © 2006 by the American Roentgen Ray Society.