Coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography



 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is the robust, noninvasive magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the proximal coronary arteries in humans. MR is a dynamic modality that offers enormous flexibility to deal with the considerations involved in coronary artery imaging, including resolution (spatial and temporal) and motion. Improvements in MR hardware, pulse sequences, and data processing algorithms have led to advances in coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA). However, further improvements in image quality and consistency are needed to raise CMRA to the level of clinical utility. The proposed research plan involves the development and evaluation of new methods for CMRA. Key components of the plan include a novel 3D cones trajectory for fast whole-heart imaging, and high-quality 3D image-based navigators (iNAVs) every heartbeat for motion monitoring. Compared to conventional CMRA methods, non-Cartesian 3D cones scanning offers higher scan efficiency and improved motion performance in the heart. Compared to conventional navigator methods, 3D iNAVs provide far more information about heart motion during the scan. Major enhancements to CMRA will be investigated in this project, including those for substantially higher resolution and more robust motion detection-compensation. Following a period of technical development and preliminary evaluation, a comparative study of the optimized CMRA method with x-ray blood vessel imaging will take place on patients with suspected coronary artery disease.