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Three‐dimensional late gadolinium‐enhanced mr imaging of the left atrium: A comparison of spiral versus Cartesian k ‐space trajectories
Author(s) -
Knowles Benjamin R.,
Peters Dana C.,
Clough Rachel E.,
Razavi Reza,
Schaeffter Tobias,
Prieto Claudia
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.24146
Subject(s) - spiral (railway) , image quality , cartesian coordinate system , image resolution , gradient echo , nuclear medicine , medicine , pulmonary vein , left atrium , magnetic resonance imaging , ablation , physics , radiology , mathematics , atrial fibrillation , computer science , geometry , artificial intelligence , optics , image (mathematics) , mathematical analysis
Purpose To investigate the feasibility of high‐resolution late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging using a three‐dimensional (3D) stack of spirals k ‐space trajectory for the detection of left atrial (LA) ablation lesions. LGE imaging inherently suffers from low SNR, so that improvements in spatial resolution and imaging time are challenging. The spiral trajectory offers greater acquisition efficiency, and this is used for increased spatial resolution. Materials and Methods Nine healthy subjects and 10 pre/post pulmonary vein isolation patients underwent an MRI examination. A Cartesian 3D inversion‐recovery gradient‐echo sequence was performed followed by a 3D inversion‐recovery gradient‐echo with a spiral trajectory. Image quality, fat suppression and sharpness were graded by expert cardiologists. Results No statistical significance was determined for SNR or image quality between the Cartesian and spiral images; however, fat suppression was significantly improved with the spiral approach ( P = 0.002). The enhancement in the Cartesian scan was found to have significantly higher CNR ( P = 0.02). Conclusion The feasibility of spiral LGE in the left atrium has been demonstrated. Similar image quality and sharpness were observed with both acquisitions. This spiral sequence has sub‐millimeter spatial resolution improved fat suppression and maintains a comparable level of SNR compared with the Cartesian scan. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;39:211–216. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.