Coronary Artery Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA): A Comparison between the Whole-Heart and Volume-Targeted Methods Using a T 2 -Prepared SSFP Sequence

Abstract

In this study, coronary MRA was performed on 10 healthy volunteers using the whole-heart and volume-targeted scans with comparable imaging parameters. Similar results in the SNR, CNR, and vessel diameter were observed. The depicted length of coronary arteries was longer using the whole-heart scan (whole-heart: RCA/LAD = 13.4 ± 3.9/10.5 ± 1.6 cm; volume-targeted: RCA/LAD = 11.0 ± 2.6/8.7 ± 1.8 cm). Imaging times for the RCA- (3.8 ± 1.4 minutes) and LAD-targeted (3.6 ± 1.3 minutes) are similar, while the time required for one whole-heart scan is significantly longer (12.2 ± 4.0 minutes). The measured vessel sharpness was higher using the volume-targeted method (whole-heart: RCA/LAD = 0.65 ± 0.18/0.78 ± 0.16; volume-targeted: RCA/LAD = 0.84 ± 0.22/0.90 ± 0.20). Combination of the whole-heart and volume-targeted methods could be potentially useful in clinical applications of coronary MRA.